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0 


PROFESSOR    OF    HISTORY 

DX1VER8ITY    OP    WISCONSI 

MADISON,   WISCONSIN,   U.  S. 


EUROPEAN  ADDRESS 

AMERICAN"  EXPRESS  COMPANY 

LONDON  OR  PARIS 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

Professor 
John  D.  Hicks 


t 

-> 

.Y 


This  is  No -7  (  y of  an  edition  of  one  hundred 

copies  which  have  been  printed  for  private  distribution. 


ADDRESSES  AND  ORATIONS 


SELECTED 
ADDRESSES  AND  ORATIONS 

OF 

WILLIAM  F.  VILAS 


To  seek  the  power  of  knowledge  for  the  gains 
of  mere  selfishness,  is  criminal  debasement;  to 
accept  its  investiture  for  increase  of  usefulness 
among  men,  exalts  and  ennobles  the  soul. 

—  FROM  THE  JUBILEE  ADDRESS. 


MADISON 

PRINTED   FOR   PRIVATE    DISTRIBUTION 
1912 


LOAN  STACK 


GIFT 


173 

V&1 


THIS  VOLUME  IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 

TO 

THE  PERSONAL  FRIENDS 
OF  THE  LATE 

WILLIAM    F.   VILAS 

BY  HIS  WIFE 


954 


"IN  ALL  THE  POSITIONS  TO  WHICH  HE  WAS  CALLED,  IN  ALL 
THE  WORK  WHICH  HE  UNDERTOOK,  HE  APPLIED  HIMSELF  TO 
THE  DISCHARGE  OF  DUTY  WITH  AN  ENERGY  WHICH  KNEW  NO 
FLAGGING,  WITH  A  DEVOTION  WHICH  KNEW  NO  TURNING, 
SPARING  NEITHER  HIMSELF  NOR  OTHERS  THAT  FAITH  MIGHT 
BE  KEPT  AND  DUTY  PERFORMED.  THIS  CHARACTERISTIC  RUNS 
THROUGH  ALL  HIS  LIFE  AND  ILLUMINATES  ALL  HIS  WORK.  HE 
WAS,  IT  IS  TRUE,  AMBITIOUS  ;  BUT  IT  WAS  THE  NOBLE  AMBITION 
TO  EXCEL.  HE  DESIRED  PLACE  AND  POWER,  NOT  FROM  SORDID 
MOTIVE,  BUT  FOR  THE  OPPORTUNITIES  THEY  OFFERED  FOR 
USEFULNESS.  HE  SOUGHT  TO  AID  HIS  KIND  BY  TEACHING 
THEM  AND  HELPING  THEM  TO  HELP  THEMSELVES.  HE  RECOG 
NIZED  THE  TRUTH  THAT  INDISCRIMINATE  CHARITY  IS  HURTFUL 
BOTH  TO  THE  GIVER  AND  TO  THE  RECEIVER,  AND  THAT  THAT  IS 
THE  TRUE  CHARITY  WHICH  AIDS  TO  BUILD  UP  INDEPENDENCE 
OF  CHARACTER  AND  SELF-RELIANCE.  WITH  WISE  STATESMAN 
SHIP,  HE  SAW  THAT  THE  BEST  REMEDY  FOR  THE  ILLS  OF  GOV 
ERNMENT,  THE  TRUE  SAFEGUARD  FROM  THE  EVILS  OF  PASSION 
AND  PREJUDICE,  THE  SURE  FOUNDATION  FOR  MANLY  INDE 
PENDENCE  OF  CHARACTER  AND  GOOD  CITIZENSHIP,  THE  ANCHOR 
WHICH  CAN  HOLD  THE  SHIP  OF  STATE  IN  THE  STORMS  WHICH 
BESET  HER,  THE  MAIN  ESSENTIAL  OF  SUCCESS  FOR  THE  INDI 
VIDUAL,  is  EDUCATION/  ' — From  the  Memorial  Address  by 
the  Honorable  James  G.  Jenkins. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Prefatory  Note 7 

Biographical  Sketch       .         .          .          .          .          .  11 

Address  before  the  Law  Class         ....  19 

Address  before  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Ten 
nessee     ........  55 

Banquet  Oration  on  Our  First  Commander,  General 

U.   S.   Grant           ....'..  85 

Memorial  Address  on  Chief  Justice  Edward  G.  Ryan  97 
Address  on  Agriculture          .          .          .          .          .113 

Iroquois  Club  Banquet  Oration  on  Andrew  Jackson  141 

Address  of  Notification  to  Grover  Cleveland             .  153 

Extempore  Address  on  General  Grant     .          .          .  159 

Decoration  Day  Address         .....  167 

Address  on  the  Presentation  of  the  Statue  of  Pere 

Marquette       .......  181 

Tribute  to  General  Edwin  E.  Bryant       ...  209 

Address  at  the  Jubilee  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  249 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

The  addresses  and  orations  contained  in  this  vol 
ume  have  previously  appeared  in  scattered  publica 
tions,  not  easy  of  access.  They  are  here  gathered 
under  one  cover  with  the  especial  hope  that  the 
collection  may  prove  welcome  to  the  personal 
friends  of  Mr.  Vilas.  A  glance  at  the  contents  will 
make  it  evident  to  those  who  knew  him  that  there 
has  been  no  attempt  at  anything  like  completeness. 
Thus  it  has  not  been  thought  desirable  to  include 
any  of  his  purely  political  speeches, — rather  those 
things  only  which  seem  the  choicest  of  his  more  for 
mal  addresses — efforts  possessing  something  more 
than  ephemeral  interest  and  value. 

Nor  has  it  been  found  feasible  to  present,  at  this 
time,  a  comprehensive  biography  of  Mr.  Vilas.  That 
must  remain  a  task  of  the  future.  Only  the  main 
facts  of  his  life  have  been  given.  Yet  it  is  hoped 
that  these  may,  in  a  measure,  prove  elucidating 
merely  by  calling  to  mind  the  numerous  interests 
and  activities  of  his  life,  of  which  the  varying  spirit 
and  characteristics  of  the  addresses  are,  in  a  sense, 
an  index  and  expression. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  volume  I  have  had  the 
editorial  assistance  of  Professor  Julius  E.  Olson,  of 
the  University  of  Wisconsin.  It  is  a  pleasure  to 
make  grateful  acknowledgment  of  his  sympathetic 
co-operation.  ANNA  M  yILAg 

MADISON,  WISCONSIN, 
December,  1911. 


WILLIAM  F.  VILAS 

William  Freeman  Vilas  was  born  at  Chelsea,  Ver 
mont,  on  the  9th  of  July,  1840,  the  son  of  Levi  Baker 
Vilas  and  Esther  Green  Smilie.  In  1851  the  family 
came  west,  arriving  at  Madison  on  the  5th  of  June. 
At  an  early  age  he  entered  the  University  of  Wis 
consin,  graduating  in  1858.  During  the  whole  of 
his  college  career  he  was  particularly  interested  in 
the  Hesperian  Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
charter  members.  Here  he  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  later  forensic  achievements.  He  pursued  his 
legal  studies  at  the  Albany  Law  School,  New  York, 
from  which  institution  he  received  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Laws,  in  1860.  He  then  returned  to 
Madison,  where  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the 
law,  forming  his  first  partnership  on  the  twentieth 
anniversary  of  his  birthday.  A  year  later  he  re 
ceived  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  his  alma 
mater,  to  which,  in  1885,  was  added  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

As  is  evidenced  by  his  addresses,  young  Vilas  was 
profoundly  affected  by  the  outbreak  of  the  war;  and, 
despite  the  allurements  of  his  profession,  he  felt 
compelled  to  offer  his  services  to  his  country.  As 
Captain  of  Company  A,  Twenty-third  Regiment  of 
the  Wisconsin  Volunteer  Infantry,  he  joined  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  under  General  Grant,  in 
August,  1862.  In  February,  1863,  he  was  promoted 


to  the  position  of  Major,  and  in  the  month  succeed 
ing  to  that  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  Owing  to  the  ab 
sence  of  the  officer  in  higher  assignment,  he  com 
manded  the  regiment  in  the  battles  about  Vicks- 
burg,  and  during  the  siege  and  capitulation.  After 
this  great  victory,  the  pressure  of  private  affairs 
called  him  home,  and  in  August,  1863,  he  resigned 
from  the  army  to  resume  his  professional  labors. 

His  work  in  the  law  found  early  recognition. 
Without  relinquishing  his  private  practice,  he 
served  as  a  professor  of  law  at  the  University  of 
Wisconsin  from  1868  to  1885,  and,  during  the  period 
from  1875  to  1878,  co-operated  with  others  in  the 
revision  of  the  statutes  of  the  state.  Other  honors, 
beyond  the  pale  of  his  professional  interests,  came 
to  him  from  both  the  state  and  the  nation.  He  was 
thus  a  trustee  of  the  Wisconsin  Soldiers7  Orphans' 
Home  from  1874  to  1893,  and  a  regent  of  the  Uni 
versity  from  1881  to  1885.  In  1884  he  was  elected 
permanent  chairman  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  at  Chicago,  and  was  also  chairman  of 
the  committee  to  notify  Gfrover  Cleveland  of  his 
nomination  as  candidate  for  the  presidency,  on 
which  occasion  he  made  a  notable  address,  included 
in  this  volume.  During  the  famous  campaign  that 
ensued,  Colonel  Vilas  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
state  legislature,  the  only  elective  office  held  by  him 
up  to  that  time. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the  Cleveland  cabinet, 
in  1885,  he  became  Postmaster  General,  serving  until 
1888,  when  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  In 
terior,  to  succeed  Secretary  Lamar,  who  had  become 

[12] 


a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  At  the  close  of  the 
Cleveland  administration,  he  turned  again  to  his  law 
practice  in  Madison.  He  was  soon  to  return  to 
Washington,  however,  as  United  States  Senator,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  from  1891  to  1897. 

Meanwhile  his  services  were  demanded  by  his 
home  state.  In  1896  he  was  appointed  a  member 
of  the  State  Historical  Library  Building  Commis 
sion,  to  which  he  gave  much  time,  serving  until 
1906,  when  the  magnificent  home  of  the  State  His 
torical  Society  of  Wisconsin  was  completed.  At 
this  time,  too,  the  University  again  received  the  aid 
of  his  great  knowledge  and  energy,  which,  as  regent 
from  1898  to  1905,  he  gave  without  stint.  More 
over,  in  1898  he  was  elected  Vice-President  of  the 
State  Historical  Society,  and  in  1906  he  was  made  a 
member  of  the  Wisconsin  Capitol  Building  Commis 
sion,  both  of  which  positions  he  held  until  the  time 
of  his  death,  on  the  27th  of  August,  1908.  To  the 
construction  of  the  new  capitol,  he  contributed  much 
time  and  thought,  and  was  actively  engaged  with 
his  fellow  members  of  the  commission  until  his  last 
illness. 

Colonel  Vilas  also  served  as  a  member  of  the  Wis 
consin  Vicksburg  Park  Monument  Commission,  in 
connection  with  the  labors  of  which  he  wrote  A 
View  of  the  Vicksburg  Campaign,  which  was  pub 
lished  by  the  Wisconsin  History  Commission,  in  Oc 
tober,  1908. 

The  many  demands,  both  public  and  private, 
made  upon  Colonel  Vilas,  left  him  but  scant  time 
for  recreation  and  travel.  His  three  visits  to  Eu- 

[13] 


rope — the  last  in  1906 — were  of  only  brief  duration. 
Nor  did  he  seek  opportunities  for  prolonged  recrea 
tion.  He  found  his  greatest  pleasure  in  work,  the 
genuine  delights  of  which  shine  forth  from  all  of 
his  addresses.  But  he  found  needed  respite  from 
the  exacting  labors  incident  to  his  profession  and 
the  public  positions  that  he  occupied,  by  frequent 
exercise  of  his  powers,  on  important  public  occa 
sions,  as  an  orator.  Moreover,  as  a  conscientious 
and  life-long  democrat,  his  sense  of  political  duty 
often  impelled  him  to  take  the  stump  in  behalf  of 
his  party;  but  his  oratorical  honors,  as  this  volume 
of  addresses  will  amply  testify,  were  won  in  a  higher 
sphere.  He  was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Society 
of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  as  such,  gave  to 
this  association  his  ripest  oratorical  efforts.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  society  in  1877,  he  was  selected  to 
give  the  oration  at  the  next  meeting  of  this  distin 
guished  body  of  veterans.  The  successful  accom 
plishment  of  the  task  marked  him  as  the  man  on 
whom  should  devolve  the  response  to  the  toast,  Our 
First  Commander,  at  the  banquet  given  by  the  so 
ciety  at  the  Palmer  House,  Chicago,  in  1879,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  return  of  General  Grant  from  his 
trip  around  the  world, — an  effort  executed  with 
such  brilliancy  as  to  place  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
national  orators. 

In  1866,  Colonel  Vilas  married  Miss  Anna  M. 
Fox,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  William  H.  Fox,  of  Fitch- 
burg,  Wisconsin.  They  made  their  first  home  in  a 
beautiful  grove  of  oaks,  a  few  miles  south  of  Madi 
son.  In  this  quiet  spot  the  young  lawyer  was  en- 

[14] 


abled  to  give  that  time  to  the  study  of  his  profes 
sion  so  essential  to  one  who  would  lay  a  broad  and 
deep  foundation.  In  1879,  he  moved  into  the  city, 
where,  in  a  beautiful  home  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Mendota,  at  the  corner  of  Gilman  Street  and  Wis 
consin  Avenue,  he  passed  his  manhood's  best  years 
and  ended  the  arduous  labors  of  his  life. 

Of  four  children,  but  one  remains,  Mary  Esther, 
wife  of  Lucien  M.  Hanks.  With  their  three  chil 
dren,  William  Vilas,  Sybil  Anna,  and  Lucien  Mason, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hanks  reside  in  a  new  home  near  the 
old  homestead,  which  is  still  maintained  by  Mrs. 
Vilas. 


[15] 


ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  LAW  CLASS 

1876 


ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  LAW  CLASS 

AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 
JUNE  19,  1876 

Gentlemen  of  the  Law  Class  of  1876: 

In  that  age  of  the  world  when  the  institution  of 
chivalry  was  esteemed  to  furnish  the  noblest  occupa 
tion  of  men,  its  usages  required  that  the  youthful 
aspirant  for  the  honors  of  knighthood,  having  per 
formed  the  probationary  services  of  page  and  squire 
to  some  noble  chevalier,  should,  on  the  eve  of  his 
induction  to  that  rank,  maintain  his  vigil  of  arms. 
With  intellect  eager  for  preparatory  fasting,  he  re 
paired  at  twilight  to  some  holy  shrine,  and  there, 
through  the  slow  and  silent  hours  of  night,  in  prayer 
ful  meditation,  he  kept  his  watch.  We  may  fancy 
what  ardent  thoughts  careered  through  his  enthusi 
astic  brain;  with  what  expectation  he  looked  for  the 
morrow,  when  he  should  become  a  belted  knight, 
and,  clad  in  his  bright  armor,  receive  the  knightly 
weapons  pledged  to  the  cause  of  oppressed  merit, 
the  service  of  his  lord  and  the  honor  of  the  mistress 
of  his  heart.  As  the  hours  of  meditation  passed  over 
him,  so  revolving  the  noble  character  he  sought  to 
attain, — then  highest  in  the  admiration  of  men  and 
dearest  to  the  loving  glance  of  beauty — his  mind 
would  come  to  dwell,  with  an  intense  hold,  on  those 
leading  features  of  character  and  attainment,  by 
the  development  and  display  of  which,  alone,  might 

[19] 


he  hope  to  win  the  green  laurels  of  fame.  A  soldier 's 
honor,  constancy  and  courage,  a  high  morality,  un 
failing  faith  and  fortitude,  the  most  refined  cour 
tesy;  these  to  cherish  and  maintain  would  bring 
forth  many  an  earnest  vow. 

Not  infrequently  some  devotee  of  holy  robes 
shared  the  watch  with  the  neophyte  of  arms;  who, 
with  his  native  spirit  firing  with  sympathetic  flame 
beneath  the  chilled  ashes  of  a  disciplined  exterior, 
was  well  fitted  by  his  profession  and  by  historic 
reading,  both  to  heat  white  the  faith  and  purpose  of 
youth,  and  temper  its  ebullitions  into  the  sedate  and 
settled  resolutions  of  manhood. 

Thus  the  morning  found  the  candidate,  from  the 
nervousness  of  abstinence,  the  excitement  of  watch 
ing,  the  transports  of  his  meditation,  in  such  an  ex 
altation  of  spirit,  as  should  serve  to  forever  mark  in 
his  memory  the  principles  of  his  knightly  duty,  and 
that  era  of  his  life  when  he  assumed  its  performance. 
The  succeeding  ceremony  of  investiture,  when,  in 
the  goodly  presence  of  noble  company,  with  sword 
suspended  from  his  neck,  he  was  dubbed  a  knight  in 
the  name  of  God,  St.  Michael,  and  St.  George,  well 
finished  the  work  of  transition.  The  lofty  cliff  rises 
not  more  conspicuous  from  the  plain^  than  were  so 
reared  in  his  life,  as  an  imperishable  monument,  the 
elevated  aims  and  high  resolutions  with  which  that 
day  he  took  his  departure  from  the  shores  of  youth. 

Knights  and  esquires,  with  all  their  tinselry,  have 
long  since  passed  away.  Their  glory  expired  sooner 
than  their  race.  Unworthy  descendants  and  incapa 
ble  imitators  brought  the  old  form  of  manly  valor 

[20] 


to  its  final  burial  amid  general  derision.  The  fog  of 
fable  has  settled  on  their  history,  and  cast  indis 
tinctness  and  suspicion  on  its  brightest  rays.  But 
the  warmest  emotions  of  humanity  must  continue 
forever  to  respond  to  the  sentiment  of  knighthood, 
and  heart  and  judgment  applaud  the  qualities  of 
mind  and  body  which  that  sentiment  demanded  and 
nourished.  It  had  for  its  basis  the  utmost  which 
mankind  could  then  claim  of  manly  virtue,  of  re 
ligion,  of  morality  and  honor. 

The  lawyer,  with  all  his  dry  reading  of  precedents 
and  lean  study  of  exact  reason,  has  always  found 
peculiar  charm  in  the  story  of  chivalry.  There  is 
kinship  between  the  profession  of  arms  and  the  pro 
fession  of  the  law.  Lawyers  are  the  belligerents  of 
the  time  of  peace;  and  history  repeatedly  exhibits 
the  striking  tendency  of  their  training  and  habits 
to  send  them  to  fields  of  physical  strife  when  the 
laws  become  dumb  in  the  din  of  arms.  The  obliga 
tions  of  knightly  duty,  the  qualities  of  heart  and 
mind  which  shone  in  the  cavalier  in  an  age  of  war, 
are  typical  of  the  obligations  of  the  lawyer 's  duty, 
and  the  qualities  which  make  him  illustrious  amid 
the  tribulations  of  peace.  An  active  emulation,  in 
all  professional  work,  of  the  noble  sentiment  and 
highbred  courtesy  of  that  departed  order,  becomes 
the  truest  finish  of  the  refined  and  perfect  lawyer. 

But  I  think  I  may,  with  peculiar  appropriateness, 
gentlemen,  liken  this  interesting  hour  of  your  lives 
to  that  special  custom  of  chivalry  which  was  pro 
vided  for  admission  to  its  honors;  and,  responding 
to  your  flattering  invitation,  attend  you  upon  a  pro- 

[21] 


fessional  vigil  of  arms;  and,  with  the  rights  and 
freedom  of  that  fellowship  of  study  we  have  enjoyed 
together,  strive  to  aid  you  in  giving  a  permanent 
solidity  to  the  high  conception  of  our  profession,  its 
character  and  duties,  with  which  a  generous  en 
thusiasm  now  fills  your  breasts.  Instead  of  attempt 
ing  any  topic  from  the  consideration  of  which  you 
might  derive  a  temporary  pleasure,  let  me  pursue 
further  the  simple  capacity  in  which  I  have  enjoyed 
our  intercourse  of  the  year  now  passed,  and  endeavor 
to  contribute  at  its  close  an  unpretending  service  to 
your  professional  career. 

I  invoke  this  usage  of  a  former  age,  especially  be 
cause  it  recognized  so  conspicuously,  that  admission 
to  the  most  honorable  calling  among  men,  ought  to 
be  preceded  by  the  severest  efforts  to  impress,  with 
unalterable  fixity,  the  aims  to  be  achieved  and  the 
principles  by  which  conduct  should  be  guided.  The 
opinions  or  practices  of  modern  life  have,  indeed, 
substantially  abolished  the  discipline  of  fasting  and 
watching.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  with  wis 
dom  to  the  full  extent.  The  deepest  impressions  are 
graven  on  the  mind  by  the  profoundest  accompany 
ing  emotions.  And  I  repeat  but  the  observation  of 
the  wisest  men  of  all  time, — which  ought  to  be  the 
guiding  star  of  education — when  I  assure  you  that 
to  the  realization  of  a  high  destiny,  nothing  will  so 
contribute  as  settled  convictions,  fixed  principles  of 
life;  such  a  clear  grasping  of  the  great  laws  which 
govern  the  relations  of  men  and  things, — and  they 
are  few  and  unmistakable, — now  while  temptation 
does  not  seduce,  nor  force  or  fraud  compel,  that, 

[22] 


with  unalterable  steadfastness  of  mind,  action  will 
follow  their  dictates  in  all  future  life,  as  it  were, 
spontaneously,  harassed  by  no  doubt,  alarmed  by 
no  assault. 

The  observation  may  indeed  embrace  every  order 
of  men.  But  it  obtains  with  peculiar  significance  in 
our  profession.  The  successful  lawyer  must,  sooner 
or  later,  be  plunged  into  every  situation  of  human 
suffering,  passion,  and  temptation.  In  his  greatest 
need,  the  worse  will  oft  appear  the  better  reason  to 
the  mind  whose  rules  of  guidance  await  to  be  fixed 
in  the  hour  of  exigency.  Sometimes  beleagured  by 
temptations,  sometimes  beset  by  perils,  often  in 
quarrel,  perhaps  in  anger,  yea,  often  amidst  the  dis 
traction  and  tumult  of  a  very  tempest  of  conflicting 
passions,  he  must  perceive  and  weigh  the  contesting 
reasons  for  action,  and  unfalteringly  pursue  the 
wiser  course.  It  is  the  absolute  condition  of  success. 
No  client  pardons,  with  a  full  oblivion,  a  harmful 
error.  He  rarely  tries  it  a  second  time.  Circum 
stances  of  distress  and  apology  will  seldom  be  suf 
fered  to  save  the  lawyer.  The  client  will  sometimes 
have  so  lost  his  reason  and  firmness  in  confusion  and 
fear,  as  to  be  worse  than  a  puling  infant,  exciting- 
contempt  and  dispelling  sympathy;  yet  will  require 
a  perfect  protection  by  his  lawyer,  and  the  world 
will  sustain  him.  Men  judge  a  lawyer  much  as  they 
do  a  general.  He  must  take  the  true  course  to  vic 
tory,  under  no  matter  what  conditions  of  choice. 
Success  alone  determines  the  right  to  it.  It  is,  in 
good  truth,  the  ordeal  of  battle,  which  best  puts 
down  the  superficial  qualities  of  the  pretentious, 

[23] 


and  brings  to  light  the  deeper-lying  temper  and 
prowess  of  the  strong.  In  such  scenes,  the  scenes  of 
trial,  but  the  opportunities  of  triumph,  the  strength 
of  settled  principles  can  alone  achieve  or  support 
success.  The  mere  shell,  though  made  of  iron,  must 
crush  under  pressure.  It  is  the  soul  rock-ribbed  with 
principles  of  strength,  secure  as  nature,  whom  no 
external  assault  can  force  to  yield.  I  would  far 
rather  the  man  of  firm  convictions,  though  the  taint 
of  error  was  on  them,  than  to  find  them  wanting 
altogether.  Better  far  to  have  unalterable  guides, 
though  some  be  mistaken  ones,  than  to  be  a  buffeted 
weather-cock  that  never  points  a  direction  of  its 
own. 

There  is  an  instability  in  our  republican  life  which, 
in  some  aspects,  has  become  terrifying.  It  is  not 
alone  that  the  accidental  favorites  of  a  capricious 
fortune,  the  boorish  possessors  of  sudden  wealth,  are 
sometimes  our  social  aristocrats.  Too  often  the  un 
principled  adventurer  has  secured  possession  of  our 
seats  of  statesmanship,  and  unbred  upstarts  have 
been  upheaved  from  the  social  depths  to  become  our 
rulers.  The  minds  of  the  people  have  become  poisoned 
by  these  sudden  and  marvelous  accessions  to  place, 
and  accumulations  of  unearned  wealth.  They  have 
lost  their  heads,  like  children  witnessing  Harlequin 
in  the  pantomime,  and  scout  the  security  of  doctrines 
which  are  the  corner  stones  of  social  liberty.  The 
fearful  threat,  though  not  expressed,  is  heard  mut 
tering,  of  the  mutiny  of  social  chaos  against  social 
order.  The  land  cries  out  for  the  service  of  men  of 

[24] 


principle;  and  its  desire  is  as  the  craving  of  a  dry 
and  thirsty  land,  where  no  water  is. 

On  no  profession,  calling  or  pursuit,  rests  a  higher 
duty,  and  on  none,  more  than  the  profession  of  the 
law,  can  be  better  placed  an  expectation  of  safe  re 
sistance  to  the  dangers  that  threaten  the  structure 
of  our  free  society.  The  nature  of  the  profession, 
its  veneration  for  settled  order,  its  principles  of  de 
votion  and  justice,  must,  if  anything  shall,  be  a  chief 
security  of  the  state.  Would  that  every  pupil  of  the 
law  might  sufficiently  pause  in  his  ardor  to  mix  with 
the  affairs  of  manhood,  and  with  long  and  profound 
meditation,  survey  the  character  and  aims  of  the 
career  he  undertakes,  and  ponder  the  guides  by 
which  he  will  pursue  it,  until,  unmixed  with  baser 
matter,  the  high  possibilities,  the  security  of  the 
principles,  and  the  noble  usefulness  of  a  well  ordered 
life,  might  rule  his  mind  in  unquestioned  dominion; 
while  to  his  awakened  soul  should  glare,  in  brighter 
lines  than  flashed  on  Belshazzar's  wall,  the  peril  and 
warning  of  incertitude  and  indifference. 

We  shall  derive  renewed  inspiration,  and  elevate 
our  views,  gentlemen,  by  a  glance,  though  necessar 
ily  a  swift  and  imperfect  one,  at  the  nature  of  the 
profession.  Whether  regarded  in  theoretic  abstrac 
tion  or  in  the  reality  of  its  actual  existence,  you  shall 
find  it  justly  to  occupy  the  noble  place  it  has  ever 
maintained  in  the  civilized  world. 

Two  ultimate  sources  of  law  are  recognized — no 
more — the  Almighty  God  of  the  Universe,  and  Hu 
man  Society.  Law,  as  emanating  from  both  these 
fountains,  is  most  truly  defined  to  be,  simply,  rules 

[25] 


of  action,  the  principles  of  conduct,  by  which  all 
things  and  beings,  within  their  purview,  are  regu 
lated. 

The  law  of  God  we  become  conscious  of  in  our 
earliest  observations  upon  the  world;  our  profound- 
est  study  but  intensifies  our  delightful  repose  upon 
it.  We  observe  it  first  in  the  grosser  surroundings 
of  our  being;  the  periodical  recurrence  of  times  and 
seasons,  the  regularly  repeated  rise,  succession,  and 
decay  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  world;  the  move 
ment  of  the  wind  and  the  marvelous  transitions  of 
the  elements.  With  increased  and  prolonged  atten 
tion,  we  discover  it  to  be  equally  vital  in  every  place, 
from  the  mountain's  top  to  the  caverns  of  the  sea, 
in  everything,  however  small  as  well  as  however 
great ;  in  every  movement  of  matter,  from  the  burst 
ing  of  the  smallest  germ  to  the  convulsions  of  an 
earthquake.  In  the  infant  ages  of  the  world,  God 
was  evidenced  to  men  in  the  mysterious  and  striking 
phenomena  of  nature.  He  called  to  Moses  from  the 
burning  bush;  and  he  answered  Job  from  out  of  the 
whirlwind.  But  with  the  accumulated  information 
of  centuries  of  recorded  observation,  the  greater 
manifestations  of  His  power  become  no  more  mar 
velous  than  those  of  infinitesimal  dimensions.  The 
ancient  sage  adored  a  mysterious  providence  in  the 
great  ocean.  The  modern  philosopher  worships  his 
infinitely  perfect  law  in  the  atom.  The  ancient  be 
held  the  working  of  His  mighty  forces  in  fear  and 
dread.  The  modern  contemplates  the  blissful  har 
mony  of  nature  in  love  and  repose.  No  longer  do 
the  heavens,  in  their  occult  changes,  appear  charged 

[26] 


with  fearful  portents  of  human  disorder.  Man  has 
come  to  know  that  these  unnumbered  worlds  swing 
their  flights  with  no  less  security  and  order,  than 
the  sunshine  comes  to  warm  the  fields  which  give 
him  bread;  a  sure  expression  of  infinite  power,  in 
finite  wisdom,  and  infinite  beneficence,  which  carry 
with  equal  efficacy  to  a  minute  particle  of  matter 
and  to  a  planetary  system,  as  all  within  a  single 
jurisdiction,  the  strength,  safety,  and  peace  of  un 
failing  law.  Such  is  the  perfection  of  the  Divine 
Order  in  nature. 

But  strangely  interwoven  on  this  plan,  within  a 
limited  place,  is  the  dominion  and  free  will  of  man. 
Except  man,  all  things  and  beings  on  the  earth  seem 
sufficiently  provided  for  by  this  scheme  of  natural 
law.  No  other  animal  is  permitted  or  required,  by 
any  exigency  of  its  being,  to  establish  society  volun 
tarily,  and  enact  laws  for  self-control.  There  are 
other  gregarious  animals,  and  there  are  the  laws  of 
their  communities,  of  more  than  human  adaptation 
to  their  ends.  What  models  are  the  bees,  the  beavers, 
the  ants,  the  wild  fowl!  Yet  their  association  is  in 
stinctive,  and  their  laws  are  not  of  their  own  estab 
lishment,  but  unalterably  decreed  unto  them;  as  con 
clusively  testify  their  identity  in  all  communities  of 
the  same  sort,  and  the  unfailing  certainty  of  their 
observance. 

But  men  establish  and  change  society  by  concert 
and  at  will.  Their  societies  are  composed  not  alone 
of  one  race  or  kind,  but  often  inextricably  com 
mingled.  They  enact  forms  of  government  and  de 
cree  observances,  social,  religious,  and  political,  as 

[27] 


variant  as  anything  in  nature.  The  variance  is  not 
of  kind  or  species,  but  the  fruit  of  dominion  and  free 
will,  combined,  alas!  with  human  imperfection — and 
error  is  the  highest  evidence  of  free  will. 

Heaven  has  not  dealt  with  man  as  with  brutes.  No 
unerring  instinct  guides  his  daily  life.  No  faculty 
of  mind  discerns,  unconscious  of  effort  and  without 
the  possibility  of  error,  the  conduct  desired  by  na 
ture.  The  universe  has  been  spread  before  him  and 
beneath  him.  He  is  given  the  powers  to  observe  and 
comprehend  it  in  some  sort,  to  read  of  its  history 
upon  its  surface  and  his  own  records,  to  forecast 
somewhat  of  its  action.  The  existence  of  an  infinite 
benevolence,  and  the  perfect  order  of  nature,  are 
manifest  unto  him  for  a  guide,  and  he  is  left  to  de 
velop  his  own  destiny  and  devise  his  own  law. 

It  has  thus  become  incumbent  on  human  society  to 
decree  its  own  organization  and  fix  every  particular 
of  its  action;  to  prescribe  the  principles  by  which 
men  shall  go  forth  to  possess  the  earth  and  its  pro 
ductions;  by  which  the  rights  of  property  shall  be 
known,  enjoyed,  and  transmitted;  by  which  the  fam 
ily  and  relations  of  kindred  shall  be  guided;  by 
which  life  and  person  shall  be  secure;  by  which 
speech  and  thought  shall  be  unrestrained,  except 
from  doing  evil;  by  which  state,  associate,  and  indi 
vidual  enterprise  shall  be  carried  on,  and  the  race 
developed;  and  by  which  laws  shall  be  enforced  and 
infractions  punished.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that 
any,  not  the  least  of  all  the  rules  of  our  law,  is  with 
out  a  perfect  pattern  in  the  mind  of  deity,  whose 
omniscience  has  not  failed  to  conform  the  law  of  the 

[28] 


invisible  molecule  to  the  order  of  universal  good. 
But  no  revelation  of  this  divine  wisdom  has  been 
given.  What  was  sometime  in  an  early  age  claimed 
to  be  His  command  to  men,  is  now  acknowledged 
for  their  fallacious  handiwork;  and  the  code  which 
demanded  an  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  is 
no  longer  imputed  to  the  justice  of  heaven,  or  ob 
served  among  civilized  men.  Nor  did  the  gospel  of 
Christ  announce  social  laws  to  men.  He  delivered 
rather  the  spirit  of  law,  than  the  law.  He  uprooted 
the  stern  and  false  severity  which  deformed  the 
Mosaic  code  and  displayed  the  spirit  of  infinite  love 
as  the  true  source,  the  touchstone,  guide,  and  end  of 
all  law. 

Thus  it  is  seen  to  have  been  awarded  to  mankind 
to  pronounce  the  specific  canons  of  their  social  con 
duct.  Human  society  is  charged  with  the  agency  of 
heaven.  It  undertakes  to  speak  the  social  laws,  the 
divine  pattern  for  which  has  been  retained  within 
divine  keeping.  It  speaks  with  an  authority  depend 
ent  only  upon  its  own  perfection.  In  nature,  the 
perfection  of  law  is  seen  in  the  absence  of  effort  for 
its  enforcement.  No  inquiry  is  there  requisite  to 
ascertain  its  infraction,  or  provide  a  compensation. 
The  result  inevitably  follows.  So,  indeed,  may  per 
haps  be  the  mysterious  and  perfect  working  of  the 
moral  law  of  heaven. 

But  municipal  law  is  far  different.  Not  only  is  the 
true  law  to  be  discovered  and  formulated,  it  must 
be  administered  and  enforced.  This  duty  inheres 
with  the  great  agency  of  declaration.  Law  is  noth 
ing  in  the  abstract.  It  is  an  existence  only  in  its 

[29] 


effects.  And  with  humanity,  investigation  must  pre 
cede  punishment  or  compensation.  This  is  adminis 
tration. 

In  early  ages,  the  inquiry  was  summary,  but  the 
results  were  capricious.  It  was  not  the  action  of 
society,  so  much  as  the  rude  sense  of  justice  of  some 
strong  member  of  it.  With  time,  came  the  special 
agents,  the  magistrates.  With  accumulated  expe 
rience  and  growing  wisdom,  came  the  settled  estab 
lishment  of  the  judicial  department,  as  one  of  the 
three  original  and  co-ordinate  divisions  of  the  pow 
ers  of  all  human  government.  The  administration 
of  law  has  place  as  a  necessity  to  the  existence  of 
law,  of  society,  of  mankind. 

For  the  discharge  of  this  high  duty  in  its  behalf, 
society  has  set  apart  the  profession  of  the  law.  It 
is  constituted  as  an  order  of  men  charged  with  the 
practical  performance,  in  the  greatest  share,  of  that 
function  which  nature  has  left  to  mankind,  alone  of 
all  her  creations.  Beginning  with  the  beginning  of 
human  judicature,  the  profession  of  the  law  has 
risen,  in  character  and  usefulness,  with  the  growth 
of  perfection  in  the  law.  As  justice  is  more  exactly 
administered,  its  administrators  increase  in  honor. 
As  human  law  approaches  more  nearly  the  discovery 
of  its  divine  pattern,  its  ministers  come  to  wear  the 
livery  of  the  servants  of  heaven.  Thus  its  chart  of 
honor  lies  in  its  very  position.  Whatever  else  may 
be  good,  whatever  dignified,  whatever  honorable,  it 
cannot  be  denied  to  this  profession,  that  all  the  af 
fairs  of  men  yield  no  pursuit  which  can  surpass  it  in 
the  excellence,  the  dignity,  the  honor,  which  its  very 

r  «o  i 


nature  demands.  In  the  comprehensive  eloquence  of 
D'Aguesseau,  "it  is  an  order  as  ancient  as  human 
magistracy,  as  noble  as  virtue,  as  necessary  as  jus 
tice." 

These  considerations  increase  in  weight  when  we 
regard  the  manner  in  which  the  law  itself,  and  there 
with  the  safety  and  rights  of  men,  are  in  actual  fact 
dependent  on  the  profession.  It  is  indeed  a  theory 
that  in  the  partition  of  governmental  powers,  the 
agents  of  the  state  who  make  the  law,  are  a  distinct 
and  independent  class  from  those  who  administer  it. 
It  is  a  theory  true  of  statute  law  alone;  as  to  the  rest 
it  is  a  fallacy.  And  little,  very  little,  comparatively, 
of  the  law  of  the  land  is  denned  on  the  pages  of  the 
statute  book.  The  legislature  there  provides  for  the 
political  machinery  of  the  state  and  municipal  gov 
ernment,  the  administration  of  public  trusts  and 
charities,  police  regulations,  the  organization,  pow 
ers  and  modes  of  practice  in  courts,  and  the  punish 
ment  for  crime.  With  the  exception,  besides,  of  real 
estate  and  the  domestic  relations,  and  somewhat  of 
corporations,  no  topic  of  the  law  touching  the  inter 
course  and  rights  of  individuals  in  their  complex 
business  dealings,  receives  from  the  statute  any 
treatment  beyond  an  occasional  partial  touch. 

Where  rests  the  remainder?  To  what  repository 
has  the  state  committed  the  custody  of  those  princi 
ples,  so  delicate  of  application  and  infinitely  various 
in  circumstance,  by  which  the  contract  obligations 
of  men  are  upheld,  and  the  infraction  or  neglect  of 
duties  to  one  another,  imposed  by  nature,  by  situa 
tion  or  convention,  shall  be  restrained  or  redressed  ? 

[31] 


Where  lie,  securely  placed,  the  foundations  on  which 
repose  millions  in  property  and  many  of  the  dearest 
privileges  of  the  citizen?  In  the  knowledge  of  the 
profession  of  the  law,  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of 
its  members  at  the  bar  and  on  the  bench!  In  the  un 
written  law! 

And  the  unwritten  law  is  the  elevated  philosophy, 
the  summa  ratio,  of  the  profession  of  the  law.  No 
legislature  established  its  canons.  No  form  of 
enacted  words  has  given  unyielding  rigidity  to  its 
principles.  It  has  expanded  with  the  increase  of  oc 
casion  for  its  service,  from  a  beginning  in  the  sim 
plest  usages  of  new-born  society.  It  has  witnessed 
every  form  of  disorder,  wrong  and  fraud,  in  which 
"man's  inhumanity  to  man  has  made  countless  mil 
lions  mourn. ' '  It  has  improved  by  an  experience  of 
the  folly  and  the  wickedness  of  men.  It  has  reformed 
its  own  heresies,  and  purged  itself  greatly  of  error. 
It  has  put  away  old  things  and  put  on  the  new.  It 
has  grown  great  on  the  rich  soil  of  noble  brains.  It 
is  to-day  perfected  beyond,  far  beyond,  other  moral 
sciences,  but  its  development  to  new  and  greater 
uses  is  perhaps  more  active  than  ever.  Flexible  and 
adaptable  to  every  emergency,  it  is  stronger  than  all 
the  written  constitutions  of  men.  Hoary  with  age,  it 
is  quick  with  young  and  eternal  life.  It  is,  indeed, 
the  best  human  semblance  of  the  law  of  God. 

The  servant  and  the  minister  of  such  an  exalted 
philosophy,  the  aid  and  dispenser  of  terrene  justice, 
the  lawyer  undertakes  to  become.  In  the  language 
of  old  Sir  John  Davys,  the  professors  of  the  law 
are  but  conduit  pipes,  deriving  and  conveying  the 
streams  of  justice  unto  all  the  subjects  of  the  state. 

[32] 


It  is  manifest  from  thus  considering  its  place  in 
the  world,  that  you  are  permitted,  gentlemen,  no  op 
portunity  for  error  in  determining  the  aims  with 
which  the  profession  ought  to  be  embraced.  Its  ap 
propriate  function  lies  in  its  usefulness  to  men.  To 
attempt  this  calling  is,  therefore,  to  become  a  candi 
date  for  the  esteem  of  your  fellow  men,  by  becoming 
valuable  to  them  in  it;  to  challenge  the  approbation 
of  heaven  by  an  attempt  to  exalt  justice  on  earth.  It 
is  a  sin  against  its  nature  to  take  it  up  in  mere  sel 
fishness.  It  can  be  rightfully  put  to  the  selfish  uses 
of  neither  lawyer  nor  client.  No  client  has  the  right 
to  a  lawyer's  service  to  prosecute  an  object  forbid 
den  by  law  and  justice. 

I  do  not  mean  by  this  to  deny  professional  assist 
ance  to  any  citizen  called  upon  to  defend  himself  in 
the  courts.  Without  delaying  to  enter  into  that 
much  disputed  question,  I  content  myself  that  the 
fair  presentation  of  such  points  of  defense  as  every 
case  affords,  in  an  honorable  manner,  has  been  found 
necessary  to  the  safe  administration  of  justice,  as 
well  as  long  established,  after  much  denial,  to  be  the 
clear  legal  right  of  every  defendant;  and  that  it  is  a 
duty — often  highly  onerous,  generally  the  most  un 
pleasant — which  the  lawyer  is  bound  by  his  profes 
sion  to  undertake,  leaving  judgment  to  them  on 
whom  the  burden  of  judgment  falls. 

But  this  duty  is  to  be  wholly  distinguished  from 
the  conscious  prosecution  of  false  and  unjust  ends. 
No  lawyer  has  the  right  to  defame  his  profession  by 
willfully  prostituting  his  efforts,  his  talents  and 
learning,  to  such  a  cause.  It  is,  I  am  happy  to  add, 

[33] 


a  course  that  brings  forth,  inevitably,  the  abhorrence 
of  the  profession. 

It  is  equally  a  debasing  ambition  which  puts  on 
the  professional  robe  as  a  cloak  to  cover  other  objects 
of  desire.  Whoever  fixes  his  hope  on  the  mere  ac 
quisition  of  wealth,  or  on  the  expectation  of  political 
preferment,  or  the  stepping  into  the  seats  of  power, 
by  putting  into  subserviency  to  such  ends  this  grand 
old  profession  of  the  law,  has  already  dishonored  it, 
and  begun  to  debauch  its  usefulness  and  defile  its 
glory.  Such  abuses  have  been  its  reproach.  And 
though  somewhat  successful,  the  false  desire  has 
turned  awry  the  career  of  thousands,  and  wrecked 
them  on  the  lee  shore  of  life.  To  put  the  practice  to 
the  mere  getting  of  money,  destroys  all  hope  of  mak 
ing  a  great  professional  character.  It  is  to  see  in 
the  unhappy  affairs  of  mankind  only  the  possibility 
of  profit,  to  watch  the  flames  of  anger  with  a  pleas 
urable  hope  to  pick  molten  metals  from  its  ashes,  lit 
tle  better  than  to  rob  the  dead  upon  a  battle  field. 
Mankind  soon  see  through  such  disguises,  and  do  not 
commit  the  delicate  and  intricate  affairs  of  great 
moment,  on  which  alone  professional  greatness  can 
rise,  to  one  who  has  no  care  for  his  duties  but  to  get 
the  money  they  may  yield.  Men  of  talents  in  the  pro 
fession  do  not  always  escape  the  auri  sacra  fames; 
but  few  yield  to  its  vigor  without  destroying,  or 
greatly  lessening,  their  professional  tone  and  char 
acter. 

I  mention  the  pursuit  of  politics  only  to  point  out 
its  dangers.  The  desire  for  public  place  not  infre 
quently  becomes  a  mental  disease.  The  doctrine  of 

[34] 


rotation  in  office,  sets  more  heads  whirling  than  those 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  office  holders.  It  is  pitiably 
ridiculous  to  see  how  small  a  height  sometimes 
makes  men  giddy;  not  generally  so  much  from  the 
present  altitude,  as  that  which  their  spinning  fancies 
promise,  when  they  shall  "  swing  around  the  circle " 
they  believe  to  have  been  so  begun  upon.  When  this 
mania  possesses  the  lawyer's  brain,  it  utterly  un 
seats  the  dominion  of  professional  devotion.  He  not 
infrequently  becomes  a  skilled  politician,  rising, 
perhaps,  to  an  absolute  control  of  party,  and  eats 
the  hard-earned  bread  a  public  salary  will  buy.  But 
he  is  a  lawyer  no  longer.  Clients  shun  him  as  if  he 
had  a  legal  small-pox.  Often  they  lament  him,  with 
an  amusing  tenderness  of  regret  for  a  good  lawyer 
gone,  and  sighing,  seek  new  counsel.  Happy  the  ad 
vocate,  when  struck  with  such  frenzy,  if  the  people 
shall  discard  him  and  his  party.  The  cold  water  of 
defeat,  suddenly  and  repeatedly  dashed,  may  provi 
dentially  restore  him. 

But,  although  I  raise  you  the  cry  of  "breakers 
ahead, ' '  it  is  no  warning  never  to  approach  a  shore. 
The  lawyer  is  bound,  perhaps  more  than  other  citi 
zens — and  the  duty  unmistakably  rests  heavily  upon 
all — to  understand  politics,  and  have  his  convictions 
upon  questions  of  public  policy.  He  ought  to  be  a 
student  of,  nay,  accomplished  in,  the  principles  of 
statesmanship.  It  is  a  part  of  his  education  as  a 
jurist.  He  should  be  capable  of  giving  sound  coun 
sel  here  as  elsewhere.  It  may  become  justly  obliga 
tory  upon  him,  too,  to  perform  public  service  in 
political  office.  It  is,  of  course,  peculiarly  incumbent 

[35] 


on  the  profession  to  discharge  public  duty  in  the 
legal  departments.  He  should  not  be  denied,  nor 
his  children,  all  the  honor  which  the  well-earned 
esteem  of  his  fellow  men  may  bestow. 

Draw  the  line  about  his  profession  as  the  field  of 
his  ambition,  the  mistress  of  his  desires;  denying 
to  him  to  seek,  to  its  dishonor,  the  spoils  of  office,  or 
to  engage  in  petty  partisanship;  but  commending 
that  upright  participation  in  public  affairs,  which 
belongs  to  enlightened  citizenship  and  harmoniously 
accords  with  professional  labor.  Insist,  too,  on  his 
right  to  every  dollar  of  wealth,  an  upright  profes 
sional  conduct  and  a  temperate  life  honestly  produce 
him.  I  seek  only  to  declare  his  true  over-ruling  am 
bition  to  endeavor,  in  whatever  field  of  action,  how 
ever  limited,  and  to  the  utmost  of  his  powers,  to  be 
come  a  learned,  wise,  upright,  and  independent  law 
yer;  believing  steadfastly  that  nothing  can  be  more 
worthy  ambition,  as  no  pursuit  is  more  useful  to 
mankind. 

Do  not  fear  thus,  gentlemen,  unduly  to  "magnify 
our  office. ' '  It  was  the  fatal  error  of  the  contending 
knight,  who  sped  from  the  barrier  to  the  shock  of 
mortal  encounter  in  the  tournament,  if  he  dropped 
too  low  the  point  of  his  lance.  The  more  dreadful 
the  adversary,  the  fiercer,  the  more  desperate  the 
fight,  with  the  superior  firmness  should  he  summon 
his  faculties  to  bear  a  high  and  unerring  aim.  It  is 
the  elevated  ambition  that  drops  not  its  point  in  any 
distress  of  sudden  temptation  or  fear,  which  will 
secure  the  highest  fruits  of  life.  Unless,  also,  you 
shall  find  the  end  to  be  so  great  and  justly  desirable, 

[36] 


you  will  not  endure  the  conditions  by  which,  alone, 
the  eminent  character  can  be  won  and  supported.  It 
results  from  its  nature,  as  we  have  considered  it; 
from  its  uses,  so  inestimable  to  men;  it  results  from 
the  inadequacy  of  human  faculties,  so  far  short  of 
the  infinite  prototype  whose  perfection  they  look  up 
to;  that  the  profession  of  the  law  demands  an  exer 
tion  of  intellect,  a  fortitude  of  character,  and  a  tena 
city  of  pursuit,  required  in  no  greater  degree  by  any 
other  human  avocation.  Who  is  incapable  to  appre 
ciate  the  glory  of  the  accomplished  character,  who 
cannot  practice  the  self-denial,  and  submit  to  the 
tasks,  necessary  to  rear  a  good  and  learned  lawyer, 
let  him  stop  at  the  threshold.  He  will  begin  in  dis 
couragement,  he  will  proceed  either  to  fail  or  to  soil 
the  lustre  of  the  order. 

The  prime  necessity  of  a  successful  professional 
career  imposes  a  life-long  task— the  acquirement  of 
solid  learning.  The  law  is  not  an  art  to  be  first 
learned,  and  thereafter  practiced.  It  is  a  study  from 
infancy  to  age,  and  life  is  too  short  to  compass  its 
possibilities. 

The  advocate  sometimes  secures  a  local  distinction 
by  sheer  force  of  native  talents,  without  sound  edu 
cation.  But  his  sphere  is  limited,  and  his  success 
temporary.  Youth  are  dazzled  by  occasional  flashes 
of  such  unusual  light,  and  an  impression  finds  root 
that  they  may  rely  upon  talents,  without  the  severe 
discipline  and  protracted  toil  which  are  demanded 
to  secure  a  sound  learning.  The  notion  is  false  and 
dangerous.  The  gifts  of  quick  perception  and  fluency 
of  speech  often  mislead  their  self-complacent  pos- 

[37] 


sessor  to  contemn  the  toiling  student  whose  results 
are  only  wrought  from  persistent  labor,  and  cheat 
him  with  the  hope  to  step  lightly  along  the  path  the 
toiler  plods  so  wearily.  The  inevitable  end  is  medi 
ocrity  or  total  failure.  No  lawyer  ever  was,  or  ever 
will  be,  so  reared  to  eminence.  The  learning  of  the 
law  is  far  beyond  the  invention  of  any  one  man,  or 
generation  of  men.  It  is  not  the  product  of  mere 
genius,  nor  capable  of  grasp  by  mere  genius.  It  has 
been  evolved  from  the  experience  of  ages,  by  the 
superadded  labor  of  generation  after  generation  of 
men  of  the  greatest  abilities.  Its  history  must  be 
known,  in  order  that  its  principles  may  be  under 
stood;  and  barely  to  read  history,  with  intelligent 
appreciation,  puts  the  best  genius  to  toil. 

But  not  alone  from  its  slow  growth  is  it  an  arduous 
and  intricate  science.  The  multitudinous  objects  to 
which  it  must  be  applied;  the  infinite  variety  of  ex 
pression  which  must  be  given  to  its  precepts;  the 
continual  changes  in  social  affairs,  as  civilization  ad 
vances,  which  demand  new  adaptations;  all  combine 
to  render  its  administration  dangerous,  if  attempted 
without  profound  learning.  The  errors  begotten 
among  the  hurried  affairs  and  vicissitudes  of  life  are 
perpetuated,  rather  than  relieved,  if  they  be  cor 
rected  by  the  temporary  expedients  of  inexpert  sciol 
ists.  Both  society  and  the  law  have  been  occasional 
sufferers  at  the  hands  of  such  intermeddlers.  It  is 
a  comprehensive  science,  embracing  within  its  juris 
diction  every  society  of  men,  from  that  which  is  the 
greatest,  the  family  of  nations,  to  that  which  is  least, 
but  the  basis  of  all,  the  circle  of  the  hearthstone;  its 

[38] 


principles  permeating  every  other  science,  and  en 
tering  every  art;  supporting  magnificent  enterprises, 
as  well  as  protecting  the  humblest  rights.  Petty 
causes  must  be  resolved  upon  principles  which  de 
scend  from  a  common  source,  and  consist  with 
the  harmony  and  advantage  of  the  entire  system. 
Hence  it  happens,  in  special  instances,  that  doctrines 
appear  arbitrary  and  severe  to  the  hasty  and  partial 
view  of  the  ignorant,  which  rest  in  sound  wisdom 
and  are  approved  by  long  experience.  How  should 
any  man  be  able  to  know  of  his  own  ability,  if  never 
so  great,  the  rules  governing  the  enjoyment  and  dis 
position  of  real  estate!  He  cannot  even  read  the 
written  statute  with  understanding,  until  prepared 
by  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  English  law,  and  its 
long  and  involved  history.  Ah!  if  ever  in  the  effer 
vescence  of  spirits  over  some  particular  success,  or 
from  any  natural  swelling  of  the  blood,  you  suffer 
egotism  to  whisper  self-assurance  in  legal  knowl 
edge,  go  to  that  statutory  title  on  the  nature,  quali 
ties,  and  alienation  of  estates  in  land;  you  shall  not 
be  without  justification  in  your  vanity,  if  you  do 
not  then  confess  it,  with  "a  penitent  and  contrite 
heart. " 

The  just  necessity  for  patient  study  is  not  to  be 
misinterpreted,  however,  and  the  devotee  converted, 
by  mistaken  zeal,  into  a  mere  absorbent  of  legal  for 
mulas.  It  is  a  grave  error,  too  often  committed  by 
the  eager  and  untiring  laborer,  to  read  too  much 
and  think  too  little.  It  breeds  the  case-lawyer;  a 
character  deserving  of  compassion  in  his  very  suc 
cess,  because  his  errors  in  acquisition  deny  him  the 

[39] 


full  measure  of  glory,  which  ought  to  reward  his 
indefatigable  industry.  His  reading  of  precedents 
is  unremitting.  His  memory  is  retentive,  sometimes 
to  a  marvelous  degree.  He  gathers  and  retains  an 
amazing  array  of  legal  propositions,  and  appended 
to  each  the  case  or  cases  wherein  it  was  ruled;  the 
latter  its  more  essential  part.  His  mind  is  a  great 
storehouse  of  poorly  assorted  legal  wealth.  Like  the 
writings  of  many  modern  pamperers  to  the  book- 
publisher  's  greed,  every  statement  of  his  informa 
tion  begins  with  "So  where/7  and  ends  with  a  cita 
tion.  He  knows  the  law  only  as  he  knows  decisions. 
He  resolves  every  doubt  by  finding  a  reported  case. 
So,  in  truth,  the  case-lawyer,  though  he  may  never 
be  a  profound  jurist,  is  apt  to  be  by  no  means  a  con 
temptible  adversary.  He  may  not  be  inventive  in 
strategy,  but  his  ammunition  will  always  be  dry. 

The  wisdom  of  the  profession  has  denounced  that 
mode  of  study.  It  is  jejune  and  withering,  forbid 
ding  the  highest  advancement.  It  is  not  so  that  the 
greatest  lawyers  are  bred.  Details  may  well  be  ob 
served  with  care,  and  precedents  attentively  exam 
ined.  But  they  should  be  read  as  aids  to  reflection 
and  the  search  for  principle.  The  student  makes 
sound  advancement  only  as  he  unfolds  the  reason  of 
the  law.  Such  study  is  a  real  enlightenment  to  the 
mind,  and  fills  it  with  a  pleasure  which  is  a  continual 
reward.  Perhaps  earth  affords  no  keener  delight 
than  his  mind  enjoys,  who,  in  whatever  science,  is 
able  to  catch  the  sound  from  everything  he  touches, 
of  the  harmony  of  that  order  with  which  divinity 
has  filled  the  universe. 

[40] 


A  great  advantage  afforded  by  the  established 
schools  in  legal  education,  over  the  methods  formerly 
pursued,  lies  in  giving  this  direction  in  the  begin 
ning.  The  experience  of  intelligent  practitioners 
may  best  afford  this  valuable  lesson,  so  as  to  enable 
their  pupil  to  thread  an  intelligent  line  through  the 
multiplied  volumes,  in  which  the  lore  of  the  profes 
sion  is  garnered.  It  is  a  matter  of  great  regret, 
which  I  believe  you  share,  that  the  eager  haste  of 
our  customs  has  not  suffered  the  period  of  such 
preparation  to  be  at  least  doubled.  I  sometimes  fear 
we  are  jeopardizing  the  permanent  supremacy  of 
professional  usefulness,  by  committing  its  education 
too  largely  to  unaided  individual  effort.  I  am  happy 
in  the  confidence  that  this  apprehension  will  find  no 
justification  in  the  future  work  of  this  class. 

It  follows  from  the  nature  of  our  profession,  as 
we  have  seen  it  to  be,  that  not  less  on  learning,  the 
lawyer  must  be  founded  on  an  exalted  morality. 
Such  a  proposition  may  need  no  enforcement  by  ar 
gument.  But,  assuredly,  every  dictate  of  policy 
lends  a  hand  to  sink  it  with  immovable  fixity  in  the 
mind. 

First,  because  the  lawyer  must  rest,  for  any 
worthy  results,  upon  the  confidence  and  esteem  of 
his  fellow  men.  He  must  be  their  counselor  in  many 
emergencies,  where  he  can  derive  little  aid  from  the 
rules  of  municipal  law.  His  authority  cannot  long 
endure,  or  rather,  it  will  never  come  into  a  lively  ex 
istence,  unless  the  springs  of  counsel  be  pure  and  un- 
defiled.  It  should  be  a  rule  which  never  finds  an  ex 
ception,  that  every  disclosure  of  his  judgment  be 

[41] 


made  with  unfailing  truth.  It  is  a  frightful  error, 
happily  confined  in  practice  to  an  unworthy  few,  to 
give  counsel  alloyed  by  self-interest.  Humanity  is 
so  perverse  that  clients  will  occasionally  apply,  with 
a  fierce  demand,  for  advice  in  accordance  with  their 
wishes.  Better  send  such  a  man  away,  in  a  hot 
anger,  but  carrying  the  truth  which  will,  with  time, 
convert  it  to  friendship,  than  pander  for  a  moment 
to  such  a  vice.  If  you  yield  to  him,  you  put  yourself 
where,  in  the  end,  he  can  and  will  belabor  and  cudgel 
you  with  just  complaints.  Never  bring  a  lawsuit 
which  your  judgment  does  not  approve  as  the 
client's  interest,  to  gratify  any  passion  of  his.  The 
bitter  fruit  of  such  sowing,  you  cannot  afterwards 
reject  from  your  lips. 

Again,  I  mention  a  sound  morality  as  the  only 
buckler  to  safely  turn  innumerable  temptations, 
which  the  events  of  a  professional  career  will  pre 
sent  in  seductive  assaults.  There  is  no  honorable 
profession  which  leads  to  greater  familiarity  with 
the  vices  of  humanity.  The  opportunity  to  make  an 
ignoble  profit  from  vice,  and  folly,  and  crime,  seems 
constantly  recurring  to  his  reach.  If  he  stoop  to 
take  the  spoil,  he  is  unfit  to  wear  the  robes  of  a  ser 
vant  of  justice.  His  fault  is  not  only  a  sin  against 
his  profession,  it  is  a  stab  against  his  own  prosper 
ity.  The  gains,  which  for  the  moment  he  seems  to 
make,  are  losses  ten-fold  greater  than  they  seem  to 
be  gains.  No  investments  return  the  practitioner 
such  liberal  increase,  as  those  which  leave  untouched 
the  money  a  vicious  opportunity  holds  to  his  hand. 

But  a  still  higher  reason  commends  uprightness 

[42] 


of  character  to  him  who  embraces  these  engage 
ments  with  that  exalted  aim  with  which,  alone,  he 
can  justify  accepting  them.  His  shame  defiles  the 
law  itself.  The  law  must  speak,  through  the  pro 
fession,  to  other  men.  They  depend  upon  the  law 
yer,  when  they  depend  upon  the  law.  He  is  identi 
fied  with  it.  Its  character,  as  a  useful  and  noble 
science,  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  profes 
sion.  So,  as  men  see  the  profession  in  individuals, 
rather  than  in  the  whole,  it  has  happened  that  much 
unmerited  reproach  and  obloquy  has  fallen  on  the 
law.  If  the  scorn  of  society  could  but  roll  up  the 
vermin  that  breed  upon  its  surface,  like  worms 
curled  by  heat,  it  would  be  a  happy  consummation. 

In  this  country  the  sphere  of  duty,  and  the  diffi 
culty  of  performance,  is  in  some  respect  much 
greater  than  in  Great  Britain,  the  mother  of  our 
common  law.  The  morale  of  the  profession  there, 
limits  the  labor  of  the  advocate  to  service  at  the  bar, 
and  through  solicitors,  forbidding  direct  communi 
cation  or  dealing  with  the  client.  But  recently,  two 
of  the  Irish  bar,  one  with  the  rank  of  queen's  coun 
sel,  attempted  to  establish  a  system  of  direct  com 
munication  in  general  business  out  of  court,  with 
out  intervention  by  solicitors.  But  they  met  igno 
minious  failure,  and  the  attempt  was  so  stamped 
upon  by  the  profession,  as  to  bring  the  authors  to 
condign  apology. 

The  contrary  has  always  obtained  on  this  side  of 
the  sea.  Here  we  bring  the  lawyer  into  immediate 
contact  with  the  client,  combining  attorneyship  and 
advocacy;  multiplying  his  labors  and  difficulties. 

[43] 


He  must  not  only  discharge  the  duties  of  an  advo 
cate  in  court,  but  meet  at  his  office  the  applicant  for 
counsel  or  business.  Unmoved  by  the  passions,  yet 
profoundly  sympathizing  with  the  misfortunes  and 
griefs,  he  must  distinguish  the  duties  and  the  rights 
of  his  client,  and  while  he  obtains  the  one,  must  not 
suffer  the  other  to  be  despised.  It  is,  indeed,  in  that 
business  which  makes  no  display,  quite  as  much  as 
in  advocacy,  that  the  American  lawyer  discharges 
his  function  as  a  minister  of  justice.  His  value  to 
society  cannot  be  rightly  estimated  by  the  causes 
he  tries  in  court,  nor  always  by  the  success  he  there 
obtains.  In  his  office  he  should  not  only  have  his 
workshop,  but  erect  his  altar.  He  may  not  there 
achieve  his  most  shining  victories,  but  there  may 
do  his  best  deeds.  There  he  so  guides  the  incipient 
controversy,  that  strife  is  averted.  Or  when  strife 
arises,  he  may,  perchance,  supercede  both  court  and 
officer,  if,  with  calm  discrimination,  he  shifts  the 
true  relations  of  the  parties,  and,  with  firm  integ 
rity,  exhibits  their  true  duties.  It  was  a  sentiment 
to  be  treasured  in  the  heart,  which  once  fell  from 
this  place  to  a  body  of  young  men,  that  "every  good 
lawyer's  office  is  a  court  of  conciliation. ' ' 

Based  in  part  upon  his  learning  and  morality, 
and  in  part  on  native  temper,  perhaps  to  some  ex 
tent  on  his  bodily  constitution,  there  must  stand  an 
other  attribute  to  make  the  great  lawyer, — a  fear 
less  courage.  Many  an  ardent  candidate  for  the 
honors  of  knighthood,  in  many  a  night  of  watching 
in  the  olden  time,  has  implored  the  support  of 
heaven  to  his  constancy  in  the  hour  of  peril.  You 

[44] 


may  with  equal  need  invoke  high  fortitude  for  the 
trials  which  shall  beset  your  career.  The  soldier 
has  hardly  higher  need  of  valor  than  the  lawyer; 
although  somewhat  different  in  kind,  and  differently 
displayed.  I  have  heard  an  experienced  practi 
tioner,  a  sound  philosopher  withal,  declare,  as  the 
result  of  the  observation  of  his  life,  that  lawsuits 
were  lost  and  won  according  to  the  quality  of  the 
lawyers,  oftener  than  the  merit  of  the  causes.  Supe 
rior  industry,  more  careful  habits  of  preparation  and 
higher  skill  may,  in  part,  account  for  this,  if  true. 
But  I  should  appeal  unhesitatingly  to  the  profession 
to  say,  that  mere  superiority  of  courage  has  not  in 
frequently  secured  triumph.  All  the  world  will 
bear  witness  to  the  stern  necessities,  which  often 
call  for  its  conspicuous  exhibition  at  the  bar.  When 
Cicero  defended  the  Roman  senator,  Milo,  charged 
with  the  murder  of  the  profligate,  but  popular  Clod- 
ius,  he  well  appreciated  that  the  occasion,  the  cause, 
the  client,  and  the  tribunal  provided  the  opportu 
nity,  and  justly  provoked  the  expectation,  of  a  mas 
terpiece  of  forensic  power.  He  prepared  accord 
ingly.  But  losing  presence  of  mind  amidst  the 
threatening  surroundings  which  the  vicious  popu 
larity  of  the  deceased  had  gathered  at  the  Forum, 
he  faltered,  and  failed.  His  courage  was  not  of  the 
temper  of  his  understanding;  and  his  client  was 
convicted  and  banished.  In  exile,  the  noble  Milo 
read  the  oration  in  his  defense,  then  published  by 
Cicero — which  has  descended  as  among  the  most 
splendid  specimens  of  ancient  oratory — and  recog 
nizing  its  power,  while  he  lamented  its  author's 

[45] 


weakness,  he  cried,  "Had  Cicero  so  spoken,  I  should 
not  now  feed  on  figs  at  Marseilles."  That  oration 
is  not  more  beautiful  as  a  model,  than  its  history  is 
valuable  as  an  example  to  modern  advocates. 

Closely  kin  to  this  attribute  is  the  quality  of  in 
dependence.  The  nature  of  the  calling,  the  aims 
with  which  it  should  be  pursued,  the  lofty  learning 
which  adorns  it,  every  sentiment  of  morality,  alike 
demand  a  manly  independence  of  character  and  con 
duct  in  every  aspect  of  the  lawyer's  life.  He  owes  it 
as  a  duty  to  society,  whose  law  he  attempts  to  ad 
minister;  he  owes  it  as  a  duty  to  the  court,  whose 
officer  he  is,  and  whose  honest  friend  he  ought  to 
be;  he  owes  it  as  a  duty  to  himself,  and  the  honor 
able  fame  he  should  bequeath  his  children. 

As  a  support  to  such  independence,  as  well  as  be 
cause  it  is  the  just  return  of  a  laborious  life,  the 
lawyer  is  well  entitled  to  a  fair  and  adequate  com 
pensation  for  his  service.  The  old  Roman  lawyer 
esteemed  it  a  stain  upon  independence  to  accept 
payment  for  his  advocacy;  but  he  expected  an  hon 
orarium  from  the  generosity  of  the  client,  and  usage 
readily  made  the  client's  liberality  more  profitable 
to  him  as  well  as  his  counselor,  than  parsimony. 

A  similar  sentiment  denies  the  British  barrister 
a  title  to  any  fee.  But  the  resulting  etiquette,  be 
tween  him  and  the  solicitors,  converts  this  paraded 
independence  into  a  most  convenient  and  inexorable 
facility  for  securing  a  liberal  honorarium  in  ad 
vance.  We,  on  this  side,  meet  the  subject  with  plain 
directness,  and  pay  the  laborer  his  worthy  hire.  In 
the  simplicity  of  republican  customs,  it  is  the  inde- 

[46] 


pendent  way.  The  right  ought  not  to  be  abused, 
nor  exorbitant  exactions  imposed. 

But  from  the  fair  returns  of  devoted  toil,  the  law 
yer  owes  it  to  his  family  and  to  his  independence  of 
character,  to  provide  a  competence.  Put  from  you 
that  false  counsel — generally  a  covert  apology  for 
the  vices  of  illustrious  spendthrifts — that  forbids  to 
the  lawyer  to  take  that  care  of  his  own,  which  it  is 
his  constant  duty  to  exert  over  the  property  of  oth 
ers.  It  is  a  most  pernicious  teaching.  The  habits  of 
his  vocation  and  business  sufficiently  tempt  to  an 
unhappy  lavishness,  and  too  often  leave  his  wife  and 
children  his  sole  legacies  to  an  unfeeling  world.  It 
is  an  unpardonable  sin  to  reinforce  such  usages  by 
false  doctrine.  It  saps  the  foundations  of  manly  in 
dependence.  Sordid  greed  may  well  be  reprehended. 
But  not  less  reprehensible  is  the  negligence  or  vice 
which  keeps  the  wife  and  children  in  uncertainty, 
and  the  husband  and  father  in  servility  to  clients 
who  have  money  to  bestow.  It  is  a  most  humiliat 
ing  spectacle  to  see  a  lawyer,  of  professional  learn 
ing,  first-rate  talents  and  achieved  position,  fawn 
with  sycophantic  and  debasing  obsequiousness  on 
some  lord  of  the  dollar,  paying  lavish  homage  that 
a  profitable  cause  may  be  vouchsafed  him.  Let  tem 
perance  rule  the  life,  and  honest  integrity  keep  the 
respect  of  the  butcher,  the  grocer,  the  tailor;  while, 
with  advancing  years,  the  just  increase  is  gathered 
into  honorable  store,  to  support  the  elegant  repose 
which,  like  the  mellow  richness  of  a  glorious  sunset, 
should  bathe  the  parting  hours  of  a  well-spent  life. 

There  was  yet  another  accomplishment  which 

[47] 


made  the  cavalier  illustrious,  and  which  adorns  the 
lawyer  with  not  less  becoming  grace, — a  refined 
courtesy  of  demeanor.  Affability  in  discourse  with 
whom  you  deal,  urbanity  to  the  court  and  to  the  ad 
versary,  civility  to  the  witness  on  the  stand,  and  a 
generous  temper  in  argument,  not  only  gild  the  char 
acter  but  lend  strength  to  the  faculties  of  the  advo 
cate.  Alas!  how  many  of  us  fail  in  the  elegant 
accomplishments  whose  excellence  we  so  readily  rec 
ognize.  Sometimes  the  heart  is  wanting;  but  more 
often,  the  eagerness  and  heat  of  controversy  are 
falsely  suffered  to  distract  attention  from  what  are 
thought  minor  points  of  conduct.  Some  relic  lingers, 
too,  of  an  old-time  fashion  of  coarseness  and  brutal 
ity.  In  days  which  are  now  passed  away,  it  was 
thought  to  be  a  source  of  rude  glory,  even  a  part  of 
duty,  for  the  advocate  to  amuse  a  boorish  auditory 
by  buffoonery,  and  a  sort  of  bear-baiting  of  oppo 
nents.  There  were  a  class,  then  unrestrained,  who 
could  not  endure  the  coming  forward  of  a  young 
man;  but  with  feelings  made  by  practice  about  as 
tender  as  rhinoceros  hide,  delighted  to  impale  on 
their  coarse  banter  the  callow  sensibilities  of  the 
timid  beginner.  They  were  rough  beasts,  some  of 
those  old  fellows,  barely  tame  enough  to  go  uncaged. 
Some  few  imitators,  already  gray,  who  saw  in  youth 
the  old  stock  and  remember  successfully  nothing  but 
their  vices,  yet 

Lag  superfluous  on  the  stage. 

You  may  fancy  now  the  morning  to  dawn  upon 
your  tedious  vigil;  and  as  the  early  sun  lifts  his 
bright  disk  in  an  unclouded  sky,  so  may  there  rise  in 

[48] 


promise  of  glorious  day  the  fire  of  a  noble  devotion 
in  your  souls.  Your  reward  shall  be  rich  as  the  har 
vests  his  beams  beget  on  earth.  You  shall  have  it 
in  the  regard  and  esteem  of  neighbors  and  friends, 
in  the  communities  where  you  shall  pass  honorable 
lives.  You  shall  have  it  in  the  proper  honors,  a 
gratified  people  may  worthily  bestow.  You  shall 
have  it  in  a  well-earned  competence,  sufficient  to 
supply  all  the  wants  a  temperate  life  should  desire. 
I  trust  you  shall  have  it,  richly  granted,  in  the  tour 
nament  of  the  forum,  which  most  excites  the  ambi 
tion  of  youth.  Here  may  you  gain  the  laurel  chap- 
let,  here  win  a  dear  renown. 

You  should  worthily  complete  your  meditation, 
by  pausing  to  view  the  splendid  track,  illuminated 
by  illustrious  names,  which  the  march  through  the 
ages  of  the  profession  you  are  now  to  join,  has  left 
on  the  pages  of  history.  Did  time  suffice,  I  should 
joyously  expatiate  on  the  theme.  It  is  a  stream  of 
true  glory,  on  which  the  order  of  advocates  has  come 
down  the  course  of  time.  The  parade  and  glitter 
of  arms  have  pleased  the  vanity,  the  great  achieve 
ments  of  the  soldier  have  awakened  the  fancy,  and 
his  intrepid  daring  provoked  the  highest  admira 
tion,  of  every  age.  The  poet  has  sung  in  his  honor, 
and  cast  the  glamour  of  imagination  over  the  reali 
ties  of  his  career.  But  his  fame  has  been  watered  by 
the  blood  of  his  race,  and  thriven  upon  the  desola 
tion  of  society.  His  glory  shines  with  a  dazzling 
brightness,  but,  as  it  touches,  it  withers  the  beau 
tiful  things  of  earth.  The  just  renown  of  the  pro 
fession  of  the  law  holds  its  place  in  the  hearts  of 

[49] 


men,  undisturbed  by  the  criticism  of  reason,  and  un 
alloyed  with  compassion.  Its  triumphs  have  been 
the  triumphs  of  humanity;  its  victories,  social  bless 
ings.  The  radiance  of  its  glory  has  not  been  as  the 
fierce  light  of  a  city's  conflagration,  but  has  warmed 
to  life  and  growth  like  the  nourishing  sunbeam.  In 
the  happiest  periods  of  every  century,  great  lawyers 
have  held  high  control  in  the  state  and  over  the 
hearts  of  their  fellow  men. 

Now,  for  those  who  have  borne  the  labor  of  your 
instruction,  and,  in  parting,  raise  the  fond  hopes 
imagination  so  pleasingly  builds — and  which  may 
heaven  grant  shall  not  be  wrecked — for  your  future 
greatness  and  renown,  I  bid  you,  God  speed.  Fight 
the  true  fight,  and  keep  the  faith. 

And  on  behalf  of  that  profession  which  your 
labors  have  prepared  you  now  to  enter,  I  extend  to 
you  the  hand  of  fellowship,  and  greet  you  with  a 
cordial  welcome. 


[50] 


ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  SOCIETY  OF 
THE  ARMY  OF  THE  TENNESSEE 

1878 


ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
ARMY  OF  THE  TENNESSEE 

AT  THE  ANNUAL  MEETING,  INDIANAPOLIS,  INDIANA 
OCTOBER  30,  1878 

Mr.  President  and  Companions  of  the  Society  of 

the  Army  of  the  Tennessee: 

We  are  met  again,  in  this  season  of  the  falling 
year,  as  men  of  a  time  already  left  well  behind  in 
the  rapid  sweep  of  a  hurrying  age — the  surviving 
participants  in  eventful  scenes  which  are  fast  re 
ceding  from  the  foreground  of  an  engrossing  present 
into  the  quieter  light  of  history — to  answer  the  call 
of  our  names  from  the  roster  of  an  army  many  years 
disbanded  and  scattered,  whose  ranks  can  never 
again  be  reformed,  whose  banners  are  kept  as  the 
emblems  of  a  glory  achieved,  whose  arms  are  pre 
served  only  for  transmission  as  honorable  legacies 
to  other  generations.  The  tie  that  binds  us  is  the 
memory  of  companionship  in  a  mighty  struggle, 
when  side  by  side  we  trod  the  weary  steps  of  the  line 
of  march,  or  shoulder  to  shoulder  faced  a  threaten 
ing  foe.  We  are  gathered  in  no  convention  to  re 
volve  the  problems  of  an  uncertain  future,  or  discuss 
the  questions  which  agitate  the  turbulent  present. 
We  pause  in  the  busy  life  which  surrounds  us,  to 
renew  the  greetings  of  former  friendships  and  cher 
ish  the  recollection  of  old  association,  to  sit  again 

[55] 


around  a  common  camp-fire,  and,  with  social  cheer, 
review  the  scenes  in  which  we  acted  a  part.  The 
lights  and  shadows  of  a  day  that  is  gone,  flit  again 
before  our  view,  all  the  lights  more  grateful  to  the 
vision,  the  shadows  all  softer,  from  the  healing 
touch  of  time.  Mingling  with  all,  the  memory  of 
honored  dead  breathes  a  holy  calm  upon  our  hearts, 
and  shades  the  joys  of  reunion  with  the  sadness  of 
our  treasured  sorrow.  At  such  a  meeting  it  would 
be  wrong  to  awaken,  by  any  topic  of  discussion, 
differences  of  opinion  or  feeling  which  might  range 
us  in  divided  ranks,  or  to  strike  a  note  to  sound  dis 
cordant  in  any  ear.  Obedient  to  this  sentiment,  I 
shall  ask  you  to  listen  to  no  discourse  upon  any 
theme  of  present  agitation,  but,  relying  on  the  spirit 
that  animates  your  gathering  for  your  interest  in 
my  remarks,  I  shall  simply  essay  to  draw  some  lines 
from  the  character  and  actions  of  the  American  sol 
dier,  which  distinguish  him  among  all  who  have 
borne  arms  on  the  battle-fields  of  the  world,  and 
display  his  just  title  to  the  gratitude  of  his  country 
and  the  admiration  of  mankind.  I  shall,  in  this,  at 
tempt  nothing  new.  His  deeds  were  done  in  open 
view,  seen  and  known  of  all  men.  Bright  and  clear 
as  sunlight,  they  shone  at  the  rising,  and  have  illu 
minated  the  forenoon  of  our  national  day.  Yet  the 
mind  never  tires  upon  the  inspiring  strains  of  an 
epic  poem,  nor  does  the  blood  cease  to  flow  swifter 
from  the  animating  glow  it  continually  imparts.  So 
the  heart  of  mankind  is  swelled  with  thrilling  emo 
tion  by  the  repeated  story  of  the  soldier  of  the  re 
public.  Especially  in  such  a  presence,  we  may  recur 

[56] 


with  renewed  delight  to  the  springs  of  our  national 
glory,  to  be  filled  afresh  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
patriotic  devotion,  with  renewed  hope  for  the  happy 
future  of  the  land  we  love. 

That  type  of  soldiership  which  the  discriminat 
ing  historian  will  paint  as  distinctively  American, 
he  will  not  find  in  the  discipline,  habits,  and  warfare 
of  any  standing  army.  It  does  not  live  in  the 
perpetuated  traditions  and  practices  maintained 
through  successive  ages  by  a  renowned  school  of 
arms.  Twice,  only,  has  the  peculiar  soldier  of  the 
republic  taken  the  weapons  of  war  and  entered  the 
arena  of  battle.  In  both  instances  he  was  a  sudden 
apparition,  born  of  the  great  circumstances  of  the 
time,  and  disappearing  so  soon  as  he  had  fulfilled 
its  high  demands.  In  both  instances,  he  came  of  a 
people  unused  to  arms,  but  was  put  to  do,  and  glo 
riously  achieved,  results  of  warfare  as  mighty  in 
themselves,  and  momentous  in  consequence  to  man 
kind,  as  any  which  were  ever  accomplished. 

First,  he  tore  his  new  world  from  the  grasp  of  its 
masters  in  the  old,  and,  having  won  it,  at  once  laid 
aside  his  arms  and  devoted  it  to  the  fraternal  en 
joyment  of  mankind,  in  political  liberty.  His  entry 
on  the  stage  of  action  created  a  new  nation  with  a 
new  order  and  system  of  government  so  humane  and 
benevolent,  so  equal,  just,  and  free,  that  within  a 
single  century  the  continent,  which  for  ages  had 
been  a  wilderness,  was  transformed  into  the  happy 
abode  of  millions  of  his  race  in  the  fruition  of  a 
prosperous  and  enlightened  civilization. 

And  his  second  advent  was  like  unto  his  first. 
That  beautiful  frame  of  freedom  and  order  tottered 

[57] 


with  the  almost  overwhelming  blow  of  unexpected 
and  terrible  revolt.  But  the  later  soldier  of  the  re 
public  was  potent  to  save  what  his  ancestor  had 
been  able  to  build.  His  struggle  was  intense  and  pro 
tracted,  but  the  event  was  complete.  Again  he  dis 
dained  all  claims  as  a  conqueror,  restored  the  enemy 
he  had  subdued  to  his  former  place  as  a  fellow- 
countryman,  quietly  laid  down  his  arms,  and  disap 
peared  from  the  scene. 

Thus,  in  war  for  its  creation,  and  again  in  war  for 
its  salvation,  the  champion  of  American  liberty  has 
twice  appeared  in  arms,  and  twice  performed  a 
great  part  in  the  drama  of  human  destiny.  The 
prayer  rises  involuntarily  from  the  heart:  In  the 
gracious  providence  of  God,  may  he  never  be  re 
quired  more! 

I  claim  for  the  men  of  the  last  great  army  of  free 
dom  the  characteristic  features  of  noble  distinction 
which  history  has  accorded  the  soldiers  of  the  Revo 
lution;  some  more,  some  less  conspicuously  dis 
played,  as  their  circumstances  varied.  Submission 
to  discipline  and  obedience  to  authority,  skill  and 
dexterity  in  tactical  training  and  the  use  of  arms, 
fortitude  and  steadfastness  in  privation  and  extreme 
trial,  courage  and  valor  in  conflict,  the  royal  senti 
ments  of  soldierly  honor — these  are  attributes  of  all 
succesful  warriors  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree.  But 
in  the  men  who  created  and  the  men  who  saved  the 
splendid  fabric  of  our  independence,  higher  char 
acteristics  were  found.  Their  peculiar  glory  rests 
on  their  personality,  springs  from  their  distinct  in 
dividuality  of  understanding,  character,  and  action. 

[  58  ] 


Their  cause  was,  indeed,  the  noblest  that  ever  led 
men  to  war.  But  their  title  to  honor  is  not  alone  in 
the  cause,  nor  their  victorious  vindication  of  it.  Far 
more,  it  is  founded  on  their  complete  understand 
ing  of  its  nature  as  a  personal  duty  to  free  men,  and 
their  manly  performance  of  all  the  peculiar  demands 
which  that  duty  imposed.  Out  of  this  they  are  dis 
tinguished  among  all  men  of  war,  in  the  motives  of 
their  action,  the  spirit  of  their  patriotism,  their  self- 
denying  demeanor  in  the  hour  of  victory. 

And  I  hold  up  to  your  view  to-night  the  individual 
soldier  of  American  liberty — familiar  spirit  in  the 
emotions  of  our  earlier  manhood.  I  hope,  though 
but  with  quick  and  hasty  touches,  to  portray  the 
marks  of  his  independent  personality — to  display 
his  cause  and  the  impulses  of  his  conduct  in  honor 
able  contrast  with  the  purposes  of  historic  warfare— 
to  discriminate  his  deeds  from  the  bloody  course  of 
rapine  and  slaughter  which  war  has  inflicted  on 
mankind — to  show  him  the  intelligent  friend,  not 
the  savage  destroyer  of  humanity — and  to  find  a 
generous  and  noble  patriotism  in  the  simple  rewards 
which  he  claims  for  his  achievements.  We  may  be 
told  we  dream  of  an  ideal,  rather  than  an  actual, 
soldier.  But  I  present  him  as  an  ideal  realized,  a 
noble  ambition  accomplished;  as  you  have  seen  him 
in  many  a  moment  of  fervid  devotion,  when,  in  hard 
ship  or  in  battle,  you  have  supported  your  constant 
minds  by  his  clear  image,  and  have  striven,  and  seen 
your  comrades  strive — as  none  can  know  but  who 
have  felt  the  trial — to  fill  the  measure  of  his  char 
acter.  Call  him  up  again,  the  idol  of  old  enthusi- 

[59] 


asm,  to  fill  this  passing  hour  with  the  pleasing  mem 
ory  of  glorious  duty  done;  and  realize  in  the  accom 
plished  facts  of  time  the  solid  work  of  his  arms! 

If  we  undertake,  in  a  comprehensive  retrospect, 
to  view  as  a  whole  the  progression  of  the  human 
race,  in  the  old  world,  from  the  earliest  period  to 
the  present  time,  what  is  the  history  of  man  but  a 
tale  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  dynasties,  and  the  story 
of  their  wars?  When  the  student  strains  his  eyes 
to  pierce  the  dim  twilight  of  remotest  antiquity,  he 
discerns  the  indistinct  forms  of  armies  engaged  in 
fight  to  assert  the  quarrel  of  some  old  king,  or  gain 
him  some  new  source  of  tribute.  Descending  to  a 
period  of  clearer  record,  he  continues  to  read  of  am 
bitious  conquerors,  strewing  the  fields  of  earth  with 
havoc  and  desolation  in  the  vain  effort  to  satiate 
their  greed  of  dominion.  All  the  great  ocean  of 
tears,  expressed  from  the  tender  eyes  of  countless 
women  and  children  by  the  cruelties  of  unceasing 
war,  has  not  so  much  wet  the  page  of  ancient  his 
tory,  as  the  few  drops  of  unsatisfied  bloodthirstiness 
which  welled  from  the  ardent  soul  of  a  warrior  who 
had  mastered  the  world. 

Through  all  the  earlier  ages  the  hatreds  of  race, 
and  the  rage  for  conquest,  gave  humanity  few  and 
troubled  respites  from  the  calamities  of  strife,  until 
the  success  of  Roman  arms  bestowed  the  peace  of 
subjugation.  Nor  was  the  restful  blessing  of  that 
splendid  dominion  long  enjoyed.  Eival  Caesars  and 
emperors  tore  it  with  their  dissensions;  and  over  the 
broken  members  of  the  empire  the  fierce  barbarians 
of  Scythia  rolled  in  successive  herds,  more  like 

[60] 


beasts  of  prey  than  men.  Then  ensued,  for  cen 
turies,  the  struggles  of  princes  to  secure  their  ut 
most  portions  of  territory  and  power  among  the 
down-trodden  people;  and  in  their  mutual  greed  and 
animosities  were  the  baleful  influences  of  conti 
nental  conflict.  In  the  midst  of  all,  flamed  up  an 
other  element  of  human  passion  and  folly,  the  fury 
of  religious  fanaticism;  and  the  known  world  was 
swept  with  its  besom  of  destruction.  Humanity  has 
quailed  before  its  mighty  power,  and  philosophy 
can  not  fathom  its  foundations.  Like  a  stream  of 
burning  lava,  the  despised  Arabs  of  the  desert 
poured  over  Asia  and  Africa,  and  even  lodged  in 
the  peninsula  of  Spain;  and  the  sway  of  Mahomet 
has  never  passed  away  from  the  continents  that  his 
disciples  subdued.  Christianity  gained  the  mastery 
in  Europe,  and  the  companion  of  civilization  has 
risen  to  a  complete  ascendency.  By  doctrine  and 
precept,  gentle  in  every  word  and  deed,  patient  of 
every  insult  and  injury,  its  teaching  has  been  up 
held  by  the  most  antagonistic  examples.  The  lamb 
and  dove  have  led  the  front  of  most  direful  war, 
and  their  followers  stood  to  the  waist  in  the  blood 
of  human  slaughter.  Such,  in  brief,  is  historic  war 
fare,  its  springs  and  causes.  Cast  back  the  eye  on 
the  dark  and  bloody  scenes  through  which  the  peo 
ple  of  civilized  Europe  have  risen  to  their  present 
forms  of  nationality,  and  behold  their  progress  to 
the  ends  of  destiny!  The  storm  of  war  has,  for  ages, 
hardly  ceased  to  blow,  or,  if  intermitting  its  vio 
lence  or  checked  in  temporary  lull,  it  has  but  re 
gained  vigor  to  renew  the  gale;  and,  down  through 

[61] 


the  centuries,  the  surge  and  roar  of  strife  falls  un 
ceasingly  on  the  ear  as  the  beating  of  waves  on  the 
ocean's  shore.  Through  it  all,  the  philanthropist 
and  philosopher  may  see  the  necessities  and  ambi 
tion  of  princes,  the  greed  and  craft  of  rulers,  the 
red-hot  bigotry  of  fanaticism,  to  have  kept  the 
plains  of  the  old  world  resounding  to  the  tread  of 
armies  and  its  people  sick  with  strife.  And  this 
contention  has  not  ended, — nor  ever  will  end  where 
governments  belong  to  princes  and  not  to  peoples. 
Even  in  the  broad  light  of  this  modern  noonday, 
when  statesmen  profess  the  welfare  of  the  people  to 
be  their  chief  concern,  who  can  deny  that  the  cause 
of  the  cabinet  is  taken  for  the  cause  of  the  people  ? 

Who  will  not  admit  the  ambition  of  rulers  to  ex 
tend  dominion;  who  claim  the  wars  of  this  century 
to  have  been  the  necessities  of  the  nations?  Who 
cannot  strip  the  cover  from  the  punctilio  of  diplo 
macy,  assigned  in  technical  phrase  as  casus  belli,  to 
see  craft  aiding  ambition,  the  cant  of  religion  cloak 
ing  cupidity  for  power!  Under  our  immediate  ob 
servation,  the  great  vultures  are  picking  the  bones 
of  the  sick  man  of  the  East,  before  he  is  yet  dead. 
On  many  a  field  this  year,  in  farther  Europe,  the 
spots  of  deeper  green  in  the  new-grown  vegetation 
have  stirred  the  observer's  horror,  marking  recent 
blood  spilled  there  in  pretext  of  the  Christian's 
cause. 

The  character  of  soldiery  cannot  rise  above  the 
character  of  the  cause  for  which  they  contend,  and 
the  nature  of  the  institutions  under  which  they  en 
list.  To  the  trained  profession,  in  every  grade  and 

[62] 


rank,  the  be-all  and  end-all  of  justification  has  been 
obedience  to  superiors.  The  rule  is,  in  good  truth, 
the  backbone  of  an  army's  composition,  a  sine  qua 
non  of  its  power.  But  in  the  policy  of  royalty,  it 
goes  beyond  the  needs  of  discipline,  and  bids  the 
subject  to  cast  on  the  cabinet  the  solution  and  peril 
of  all  questions  of  political  right  and  wrong.  By 
the  casuistry  of  kings,  it  is  made  the  solace  of  their 
troops  for  the  maintenance  of  their  own  dominion. 

In  like  subservience  to  their  uses,  the  ministers  of 
monarch s  educate  and  guide  the  hatreds  of  race, 
isolating  their  people  from  the  common  brotherhood 
of  humanity;  they  inflame  and  pervert  the  frenzy 
of  religious  feeling,  putting  the  love  of  God  to  work 
cruelty  to  men;  they  put  out  the  eyes  of  patriotism, 
and  the  noble  instinct  blindly  follows  the  cause  of 
the  ruler  as  the  cause  of  the  country. 

Formidable  armies  rise  on  such  foundations;  the 
purse  equips  them  with  a  full  panoply;  they  are  in 
structed  with  skill  and  often  commanded  by  genius; 
and  they  play  the  mighty  game  of  war  with  spirit 
and  fortitude,  when  the  arts  or  anger  of  diplomacy 
are  followed  by  the  word  of  command. 

But  individuality  is  utterly  lost  in  the  mass;  the 
soldier  is  nothing  more  than  his  rifle  and  bayonet; 
the  rider  and  the  horse  but  one  implement;  all  voice 
less  parts  of  a  great  instrument  of  state,  whose  direc 
tion  and  uses  are  governed  by  a  master  without  and 
above  its  own  consciousness.  Exceptions  rise  on  the 
rule,  and  splendid  instances  of  individual  renown 
in  soldiership  illuminate  the  records  of  the  past. 
But,  though  a  Sydney  or  a  Bayard  be  a  comrade 

[63] 


within  its  ranks,  the  soldier  in  such  a  body  cannot 
but  realize  that  he  yields  his  strength  or  life  to 
maintain  quarrels  in  which  he  and  his  have  no  con 
cern,  to  gain  results  in  which  they  can  have  no 
share.  To  gather  fit  material  for  such  uses,  the  re 
cruiting  sergeant  and  press  gang  might  well  solicit 
or  compel  the  idle  and  dissolute.  Nor  is  it  strange 
that  disbanding  such  an  army  should  scatter  appre 
hension  and  dismay  among  the  peaceful  classes  of 
society. 

Against  this  history  and  these  methods,  the  Amer 
ican  soldier,  in  purposes  of  action,  in  personality, 
character,  and  conduct,  stands  in  marked  and  hon 
orable  contrast.  The  difference  is  extreme  and  radi 
cal.  It  distinguishes  him  in  his  motives,  in  his 
entry  into  service,  in  his  return  to  citizenship;  to 
some  extent  in  his  discipline  and  habits;  and,  pecu 
liarly,  in  his  resolute  perseverance  to  a  complete 
accomplishment  of  his  objects  of  war.  These  differ 
ences  are  as  great  in  degree,  and  the  same  in  kind, 
as  those  which  divide  the  institutions  of  political 
manhood  from  the  government  of  kings.  The  root 
of  all  is  the  personal  individuality  of  freemen. 

The  soldier  of  America  has  taken  arms  only  be 
cause  he  was  an  independent  man,  conscious  of  the 
rights,  willing  to  abide  the  duties  of  a  free  man 
hood,  and  fearless  to  defend  the  former  and  per 
form  the  latter.  Upon  the  same  foundation  rests 
our  free  society.  Its  benign  influences  educate  and 
improve  the  character.  Its  hopes  of  perpetuity  rest 
upon  the  steady  maintenance  of  that  character  by 
its  citizens.  If  ever  that  unhappy  day  shall  come, 

[64] 


when  her  people  shall  want  the  manhood  to  be  such 
soldiers,  or  to  prohibit  other  forms  of  armies  in  the 
land — which  may  God  forbid — in  that  day  our  re 
public  must  fall! 

The  experiences  of  our  forefathers  were  singu 
larly  adapted  to  beget  individuality  in  their  soldier 
ship,  as  well  as  to  instruct  them  in  the  rights  of 
humanity.  They  were  forced  to  wage  many  a  hard 
conflict,  and  to  fight  an  uncommon  foe.  They  had 
no  teaching  in  civilized  warfare,  nor  would  it  have 
much  availed  them.  Their  trials  were  beyond  the 
forecast  of  military  art,  outstripping  the  fables  as 
well  as  realities  of  previous  war.  Their  march  was 
in  the  primeval  forest,  a  toilsome  passage  forced 
with  stealthy  watchfulness,  the  silent  threat  of  un 
seen  peril  ever  present  to  the  mind.  Their  battle 
was  a  series  of  personal  conflicts,  each  fighting  sev 
erally  according  to  his  temper  and  skill;  their  cor 
poration  the  result  of  individual  intelligence,  with 
little  of  generalship  to  guide  it.  At  home,  and  in 
the  fields  of  their  labor,  constant  vigilance  and  cour 
age  were  indispensable  to  preserve  their  families, 
and  continual  alarms  disturbed  their  repose.  By 
insensible  degrees,  and  almost  unconsciously,  there 
rose  among  them  a  new  order  of  fighting  men.  And 
when  Braddock's  brilliant  array  was  routed,  and  the 
men  of  forest  training  saved,  by  their  intrepidity, 
his  flying  thoroughbreds  from  destruction,  the 
glamour  of  invincibility  fell  from  British  discipline, 
and  the  birth  of  the  American  soldier  became  known. 

Upon  that  discovery  the  spirit  of  confidence  rose 
in  the  colonies.  Their  life  in  the  wilderness  had 

[65] 


filled  their  minds  with  understanding  of  the  natural 
rights  of  man,  and,  supported  by  this  new  conscious 
ness  of  strength,  their  heroism  was  exalted  to  resist 
tyranny  and  demand  their  rightful  independence. 

The  suddenly  gathered  host  which  the  great  Cap 
tain  of  our  Liberties  found  ready  to  his  command 
upon  the  surrounding  heights  of  Boston,  was  a  typi 
cal  beginning  of  the  true  American  army.  They  had 
risen  spontaneously  and  individually,  pne  by  one. 
No  love  of  arms  had  enticed  them;  no  conscription 
compelled  them.  They  were  not  sprung  from  idle 
or  dissolute  social  life.  They  came  of  the  best  forms 
of  manhood,  and  from  every  rank  with  equal  zeal. 

They  came,  besides,  of  various  peoples.  No  one 
race  or  nation  contained  their  ancestry.  The  most 
adventurous  and  bold  of  different  lands  alone  had 
dared  to  tempt  the  forbidden  wilderness,  to  plant 
civilization  in  the  face  of  its  savage  possessors;  and 
in  their  common  manliness  and  the  mingled  blood  of 
their  generations,  the  differences  and  hatreds  of  race 
and  nationality  faded  away.  They  were  shaped  by 
nature  to  establish  a  state  founded  on  the  brother 
hood  of  man. 

None  had  military  training,  nearly  all  were  un 
used  to  arms,  except  those  weapons  which  were  com 
mon  to  the  settlers  of  a  new  country.  They  were 
men  of  peace,  with  families  at  home — fathers,  hus 
bands,  sons,  brothers.  But  they  were  resolute  to 
risk  all,  to  suffer  or  to  die,  as  need  might  be,  for 
their  cause.  They  matched  themselves,  without 
fear,  to  fight  the  best  armies  and  the  richest  nation 
of  the  world. 

[66] 


They  obeyed  in  their  coming  no  decree  of  cabinet, 
no  call  of  rulers.  They  owned  no  rulers.  Their  cause 
was  wholly  their  own  and  that  of  their  fellow  men. 
They  understood  it.  They  fought  the  fight  of  man 
hood.  The  morning  light  of  independence  illumi 
nated  their  souls. 

The  world  had  seen  men  struggle  for  liberty  be 
fore,  and  it  laughed  them  to  scorn.  It  soon  heard 
with  amazement  that  these  untrained  men,  by  their 
individual  appreciation,  co-operation,  and  courage, 
had  repeatedly  rolled  the  splendid  troops  of  perfect 
science  in  bloody  disaster  down  the  slopes  of  Bunker 
Hill;  that  the  lesson  of  Fort  du  Quesne  was  illus 
trated  by  the  slaughter  of  Gage's  veterans. 

Upon  such  an  army  engraft  discipline  and  skilled 
mobility,  and  it  becomes  formidable — almost  invin 
cible.  But  their  subsequent  discipline  was  of  their 
own  stamp,  the  submission  of  free  men,  for  the 
time  being,  that  their  work  for  freedom  might  be 
stronger.  In  it  they  did  not  forget  the  nature  of  the 
cause,  nor  their  citizenship.  The  license  of  war  did 
not  debauch  their  minds,  because  they  were  good 
soldiers  that  they  might  enjoy  to  be  good  citizens. 

It  was  peculiar  also  to  their  character  that  there 
could  be  for  them  but  one  issue  from  the  strife— 
the  event  of  complete  success  and  independence. 
All  soldiers  must  have  endurance.  They  had  more; 
they  had  fortitude  and  self-imposed  patience  and 
self-willed  persistence.  No  diplomacy  could  nego 
tiate  a  compromise  of  their  quarrel.  They  wanted 
no  patch-work  of  peace.  Complete,  finished,  abso 
lute  victory,  entire  and  perfect  independence  must 
be  theirs! 

[67] 


And  they  achieved  it!  How  nobly  and  well,  is 
now  the  treasured  memory  of  the  world.  The  beau 
tiful  dream  of  human  liberty  became  a  realization. 
Philosophers  had  discoursed  upon  it,  poets  sung  of 
it;  yet  it  could  never  attain  the  credit  of  a  prophecy. 
By  the  help  of  God,  our  fathers  accomplished  it  for 
men! 

They  builded  their  structure  in  wisdom  and  un 
derstanding',  with  a  benevolent  foresight  and  love 
for  their  race,  which  may  well  seem  beyond  the  at 
tributes  of  human  nature.  They  left  it  to  us,  a  rich 
legacy  of  happiness,  the  fruit  of  their  heroism,  their 
labors,  their  sacrifice,  and  their  blood.  Where  is 
the  man  whose  heart  does  not  swell  with  pride  that 
he  sprung  from  such  an  ancestry,  surpassing  in  the 
nobility  of  manhood  the  lineage  of  kings?  If,  now 
that  the  fathers  are  dead,  their  great  inheritance  can 
not  be  maintained  to  the  blessed  uses  of  human  lib 
erty,  the  shame  shall  not  impeach  the  wisdom  of 
our  sires,  but  the  degeneracy  of  their  sons! 

For  near  a  century  this  frame  of  social  order  stood 
secure  before  the  world.  The  great  trial  of  man's 
possibilities  for  self-government  seemed  assured  of 
success.  The  nation 's  strength  had  long  since  risen 
to  proportions  which  defied  all  danger  from  any  for 
eign  source. 

And  at  home,  how  excellent  have  been  its  uses  to 
its  people!  Fed  with  its  abundance  from  youth,  we 
do  not  appreciate  the  truth  that  its  beneficent  bless 
ings  have  been  without  parallel, — nay,  without  near 
approximation, — in  any  other  country  under  the 
sun.  Those  honors,  privileges,  opportunities,  and 

[68] 


gratifications,  which  in  other  lands  distinguish  the 
higher  ranks,  are  here  the  common  rights  of  all. 
For  the  ranks  have  no  existence.  Neither  govern 
ment  nor  law  confer  gradations  of  superiority.  All 
stand  upon  a  level  floor;  the  head  and  shoulders 
alone  may  rise.  Those  fruits,  in  truth,  which  grow 
only  upon  personal  qualifications — the  abilities, 
courage,  and  devotion  of  the  individual — govern 
ments  can  not  bestow,  but  they  may  diminish  or 
destroy.  Yet,  look  around!  Of  our  citizens  of 
wealth,  of  power,  of  good  report,  and  consideration, 
behold!  nine  in  ten  have  gained  it  all  themselves. 

Look  at  the  workman  who  must  daily  labor 
for  livelihood.  Eespectability,  not  degradation,  at 
taches  to  his  honest  industry.  In  the  home  to  which 
he  repairs  from  toil,  he  may,  with  thrift,  have  more 
comforts  than  the  nobility  of  England  three  hun 
dred  years  ago. 

It  is  an  epoch  marvelous  for  invention.  The  arts 
of  utility  and  taste  are  productive  to  abundance, 
and  a  free  press  scatters  the  wisdom  of  science  and 
the  pleasures  of  literature  in  profusion.  No  coun 
try  on  earth  so  promptly  and  diffusely  enjoys  the 
benefits  of  the  advancement  of  knowledge  and  in 
crease  of  skill,  pre-eminent  in  this  age.  In  civilized 
Europe,  whole  communities,  entire  classes  and  or 
ders  of  people,  remain  to  this  day  practically  un 
acquainted  with  these  advantages,  still  plodding  the 
hard  paths  of  past  generations.  They  are  spread  on 
every  hand  with  lavish  prodigality  about  you,  in 
this  splendid  city  and  surrounding  country,  where 
the  forest  stood  within  the  memory  of  living  men; 

[69] 


and  so  every  town  and  village  has  its  share.  The 
provision  of  nature  has  been  bountifully  adequate 
to  the  wants  of  such  a  people.  Her  skies  are  gener 
ous  and  temperate;  her  scenery  pleasing  to  the  eye; 
her  climate  salubrious  and  inspiriting;  the  harvests 
of  her  soil  will  feed  the  world;  even  in  her  age. 
Chaos  had  forethought  for  us,  and  filled  her  paleo 
zoic  storehouses  with  minerals  and  fuel  suitable  to 
our  every  need. 

It  is  a  land  of  plenteousness  and  a  land  of  beauty; 
but  what  is  more,  and  most  of  all,  it  is  a  land  of  lib 
erty.  From  ev3ry  quarter  the  eager  claimants  of 
its  generous  beneficence  have  been  received  and 
made  welcome.  In  every  country  of  civilization,  its 
citizenship  has  been  respected.  The  happy  pos 
sessor  of  that  title,  if,  journeying  on  some  distant 
errand,  he  chanced  upon  a  crowded  seaport  flutter 
ing  with  the  banners  of  many  nations,  saw  no  em 
blem,  lifted  by  the  breeze,  of  greater  safety  or  higher 
honor  than  the  beautiful  flag  of  stripes  and  stars. 

Who  that  loved  his  fellow  men  did  not  rejoice  in 
the  institutions  of  American  liberty  ?  Who  that  be 
lieved  the  great  Creator  comprehended  all  men  in 
his  benevolence,  not  the  special  few,  did  not  pray 
for  their  perpetuity!  Above  all,  how  could  an 
American  fail  to  love  his  country? — or  dare  attempt 
to  destroy  it? 

But  it  is  written  that  sin  shall  be  visited  even  upon 
the  third  and  fourth  generation.  And  there  was  sin 
in  the  land.  Out  of  it  grew  sectional  division,  and 
hatred  between  countrymen.  Ambition  and  craft 
seized  upon  the  fact,  plotted  in  secret,  and  stirred 

[70] 


up  strife.  The  voice  of  warning  was  unheeded.  Its 
very  excellence  was  a  temporary  danger  to  our  sys 
tem,  so  confident  were  men  no  design  upon  it  could 
be  serious.  And  when  upon  a  sudden  the  storm 
burst  upon  it,  the  government  of  men  tottered  and 
trembled  to  its  foundation  under  the  fierce  assault. 

Then  rose  to  arms  the  second  Army  of  Freedom- 
fit  successor  to  its  early  prototype!  How  enlarged 
and  varied  the  great  theatre  of  its  action,  yet  how 
like  the  first  in  its  characteristics! 

Again  it  was  the  cause  of  the  people,  again  the 
fight  of  manhood.  Liberty  and  independence  were 
again  at  stake.  Not  upon  the  issue  of  creation;  that 
had  been  accomplished,  the  experiment  had  been 
tried,  its  splendid  usefulness  established.  I  enter 
into  no  refined  debate  upon  contingent  possibilities. 
The  union  of  these  states,  and  the  liberties  and  hap 
piness  of  their  citizens,  are  inseparably  bound  to 
gether.  The  great  question  was,  shall  the  institu 
tions  of  freedom  endure? 

Now,  as  before,  the  momentous  question  rested 
upon  the  individual  and  personal  qualities  of  a  free 
people.  It  was  fully  comprehended.  Do  we  not  all 
remember?  In  every  household,  on  every  family 
altar,  the  incense  of  devotion  rose.  In  the  breast  of 
manhood  the  consciousness  of  duty  was  accom 
panied  by  resolution,  and  from  every  hamlet  came 
a  quick  response  in  the  tramp  of  thousands  to  the 
front. 

Like  the  army  of  our  fathers,  these  soldiers  were 
men  of  peace,  and  behind  them  were  parents,  wives, 
and  children.  The  weapons  of  war  were  unfamiliar 

[71] 


to  their  hands.  Even  the  sight  of  holiday  soldiers 
had  been  rare.  Military  training  was  all  unknown. 
Though  willing  to  submit  to  every  demand  of  duty, 
the  discipline  of  soldiery  was  strange  to  such  a  peo 
ple.  They  were  formed  into  companies,  regiments, 
and  capital  divisions.  They  wore  the  clothes  and 
carried  the  arms  of  soldiers.  Impelled  by  the  hasty 
cry  of  ignorant  enthusiasts,  they  hurried  forward  to 
engagement — as  brave  men  by  nature  as  ever  met 
an  enemy — but  little  better  than  a  mob.  Large 
bodies  came  in  conflict,  and  then,  where  individual 
valor  is  nothing  if  discipline  does  not  regulate  and 
science  guide  its  force,  confusion  ruled  the  scene. 
Both  sides  shared  the  confusion,  but  the  defeat  and 
humiliation  were  ours. 

It  was,  after  all,  a  useful  day.  Disaster  awakened 
strength,  and  its  sharp  stroke,  like  the  blow  of 
Moses'  rod  upon  the  rock  in  Horeb,  but  opened  a 
more  copious  flow  of  reanimating  vigor.  The  reser 
voirs  of  courage  and  endurance  in  this  land  of  peace 
ful  prosperity  had  been  wholly  unknown.  They 
made  a  dreadful  mistake,  who  reckoned  on  a  lost 
manhood  in  the  offspring  of  the  Eevolution.  Fool 
ish  enthusiasm  settled  into  resolution.  Out  of  their 
mingled  shame  and  devotion,  above  the  smoke  of 
battle,  there  rose  before  the  enemy  and  in  view  of 
the  world,  that  magnificent  spectacle — unseen  for  a 
century — the  firm  and  undaunted  countenance  of  a 
free  people,  in  mighty  fight  for  the  institutions  of 
freedom.  There  it  stood,  our  national  character! 
There  were  its  iron  features!  Like  the  square  fore 
head,  solid  jaw,  steadfast  eye,  and  grim  visage  which 

[72] 


mark  our  first  great  commander,  now  journeying  in 
a  foreign  land ;  no  hope  for  relenting  lay  in  that  stern 
aspect. 

Well  was  it  for  us,  in  time  of  trial,  that  the  fore 
thought  of  our  fathers  had  planted  that  quiet  school 
of  science  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The  rich 
seed  of  its  nurture  now  bore  abundant  return,  and 
repaid  us  in  harvest  of  its  discipline  and  skill  an 
hundredfold.  What  though  some  among  its  disciples 
turned  awry  its  teachings  to  the  injury  of  their 
country?  Happy,  thrice,  was  this  people  that  its 
wise  instruction  had  also  fallen  on  the  fruitful  soil 
of  patriotism  and  understanding,  yea,  quickened 
and  bore  fruit  in  the  brain  of  the  living  genius,  equal 
to  our  hour  of  need . 

Throughout  the  splendid  army  which  accepted, 
with  quick  intelligence,  the  tactical  training  of  the 
military  art,  there  remained  the  characteristic  indi 
viduality  of  which  I  have  spoken.  In  so  great  a  host, 
its  manifestations  were  less  open  to  the  outward 
observer.  To  him  who  was  in  frequent  contact,  it 
was  ever  conspicuous.  It  was  not  so  much  the  war 
rior,  as  the  citizen  in  arms,  who  fought  our  war.  It 
was  becoming  to  him  to  strive  to  be  a  good  soldier, 
and  all  the  sentiments  of  soldierly  honor  held  lively 
sway  over  his  mind.  But  his  discipline  was  put  on 
with  the  understanding  that  it  was  to  make  him  use 
ful.  He  aimed  not  to  gain  the  rewards  of  a  soldier's 
life.  His  hope  of  recompense  lay  in  his  return  to 
citizenship.  There,  in  the  circle  of  home,  secure  in 
the  enjoyments  of  peace  by  his  valor,  he  should  gain 
his  reward.  There  was  representation  of  many  na- 

[73] 


tions  in  our  ranks.  The  various  origin  of  our  sol 
diers  gave  renewed  expression  of  that  characteristic 
of  the  army  of  our  ancestors.  It  was  fitting  to  the 
nature  of  our  national  life.  Eisen  on  the  strength  of 
the  principles  of  free  manhood,  the  genius  of  our 
land  has  trusted  in  that  strength;  and  American 
citizenship  has  demanded  no  rite  of  induction  but 
that  its  claimant  should  declare  his  faith  in  liberty 
and  his  allegiance  to  her  institutions.  And  right 
well  that  trust  was  repaid.  The  flame  of  devotion 
burned  high  and  brightly  in  the  hearts  of  our 
adopted  countrymen.  They  were  found  in  every 
regiment,  they  fought  in  every  field.  Mingling  with 
the  native  current,  the  blood  of  Irishmen, — whose 
birthright  is  hatred  of  oppression, — of  Germans,— 
whose  ancient  stock  was  free  when  all  the  world  was 
subjugated  by  Eome, — of  the  sturdy  men  of  Scandi 
navia,  and  many  other  countries  still — flowed  freely 
on  the  altar  of  their  chosen  land.  The  hope  for  free 
dom  for  all  men  rises  higher  and  higher,  upon  such 
proof  that  all  are  capable  to  maintain  it;  from  such 
examples  the  promise  brightens  that  race-lines  shall 
fade  away,  and  the  clasp  of  common  humanity  bind 
all  in  equal  possession  of  the  rights  of  man. 

I  have  remarked  of  the  army  of  the  Eevolution 
that  a  complete  success  was  necessary  to  its  char 
acter.  The  same  unflinching  persistence  was  pecu 
liar  to  the  army  of  salvation.  But  one  issue  was 
possible  to  its  mission.  No  temporizing  diplomacy, 
no  compromise,  was  admissible.  But  one  end  could 
appease  the  injured  spirit  of  liberty  and  order — the 
utter  submission  of  the  last  foeman.  Our  fathers 

[74] 


had  delivered  us  forever  from  all  fear  of  enemies 
without.  It  was  for  us  to  administer  the  lesson 
which  should  deliver  the  nation  forever  from  the 
danger  of  revolt  within.  And  not  one  syllable  was 
omitted  in  the  example  of  the  army.  All  the  hosts 
of  rebellion  were  scattered,  and,  from  the  chief  down 
through  every  rank,  the  last  man  in  arms  was  laid 
a  captive  at  the  feet  of  his  injured  country. 

Comrades: — I  am  of  those  who  rejoice  in  the  mag 
nanimity  of  spirit  which  has  prevailed;  who  regret 
that  its  splendor  was  at  all  clouded  by  some  unnec 
essary  violence;  who  have  such  faith  in  the  republic 
as  would  have  admitted  no  despotic  hand  to  do  what 
the  force  of  restored  law  might  have  done;  and 
would  have  trusted — as  henceforth  we  all  know  we 
may  trust — the  patriotism  of  our  fellow  countrymen, 
regained  from  the  interrupting  frenzy  of  temporary 
anger,  to  share  the  honored  memories  of  our  com 
mon  ancestry  and  participate  in  the  glorious  possi 
bilities  of  our  common  future,  with  abiding  faith  in 
their  honor  and  abiding  pride  in  the  association. 

But  for  all  that,  I  would  not  abate  one  jot  or  tittle 
of  the  true  teaching  of  the  memorable  past;  nor 
withdraw  one  line  from  the  full  measure  of  that  con 
demnation,  which  the  issue  of  the  appeal  to  arms 
adjudged  to  the  portion  of  rebellion.  If,  indeed,  as 
we  trust,  the  actions  of  men  are  under  the  immediate 
guidance  of  Almighty  God,  and  nations  do  but  work 
forth  His  great  purposes,  then,  assuredly,  this  peo 
ple,  who  for  so  many  years  received  the  uninter 
rupted  flow  of  His  benevolence  in  unexampled  pros 
perity,  may  well  recognize  His  hand  in  the  complete 

[75] 


and  finished  result  which  His  providence  has  com 
mended  to  be  a  warning  to  all  after- time! 

There  can  be  no  error  admitted  here.  It  questions 
our  title  to  the  dearest  reward  we  enjoy.  It  molests 
the  repose  of  our  heroic  dead.  It  exposes  to  peril 
all  the  fruits  of  sacrifice  and  blood.  The  triumph 
of  our  armies  was  not  the  work  of  chance.  The 
mighty  struggle  was  not  a  game  between  gigantic 
wrestlers,  in  which  the  crown  of  dominion  was  the 
prize  of  the  stronger.  This  was  no  battle  of  Greeks 
for  mere  mastery  over  our  fellows.  The  significance 
of  our  victory  is  not  that  superiority  is  with  the 
greater  numbers  in  war.  It  is  not  true  now;  and  it 
never  has  been  true.  History  teaches  a  better  les 
son,  and  even  in  war  we  read  the  progress  of  man 
kind.  God  will  defend  the  right! 

It  is,  indeed,  our  highest  glory — and  without  it 
we  are  miserable  men — that  we  fought  for  the  right, 
and  conquered  in  the  right.  Our  cause  was  the  cause 
of  humanity.  Our  gallant  comrades  who  are  gone 
were  not  deceived.  They  laid  not  down  their  lives 
in  vain.  For  the  welfare  of  their  race,  for  their 
children  and  their  children's  children  forever,  they 
met  a  mortal  foe,  and,  in  the  fierce  conflict  falling, 
they  bravely  died  for  men.  Eest!  rest  in  glory,  noble 
shades!  Gallant  and  manly  in  your  lives,  honored 
in  your  glorious  death!  The  great  tree  of  Liberty, 
whose  roots  your  lifeblood  watered,  shall  spread  its 
hallowed  branches  over  your  posterity  forever! 

But,  companions,  while  we  will  not  yield  the  sup 
ports  of  our  conduct  and  our  title  to  honor,  we  recur 
to  them  in  no  spirit  of  remaining  anger.  Long  ago 

[76] 


it  was  forgotten.  First  of  all,  the  soldiers  of  the 
Union  were  ready  to  "  clasp  hands  across  the  bloody 
chasm."  Better  than  others,  they  knew  the  valor 
and  the  worth  of  our  brethren  of  the  South.  And 
right  ready  have  they  ever  been  to  rejoice  in  the  re 
stored  brotherhood,  and  heartily  they  pray  that  if 
ever  again  this  nation  shall  have  need  of  war, 
shoulder  to  shoulder  we  shall  oppose  a  common  foe, 
and,  each  for  the  other,  fight  its  common  cause. 

Nor  are  we  assembled  in  any  spirit  of  boastful- 
ness  or  vainglory.  We  meet  no  more  as  soldiers. 
But  in  days  that  are  passed,  when  we  were  all 
younger  men,  we  were  comrades  in  privation  and  in 
peril.  Together  we  supported  toil  and  hardship. 
We  were  to  one  another  then  friends  and  helpers. 
The  old  Army  of  the  Tennessee  was  a  band  of  broth- 
ers-in-arms.  The  ties  which  such  experiences  form, 
life  is  too  short  for  forgetfulness  to  sunder.  In  the 
words  of  our  constitution,  the  object  of  this  society 
is,  and  shall  be,  "to  keep  alive  and  preserve  that 
kindly  and  cordial  feeling  which  has  been  one  of  the 
characteristics  of  this  army  during  its  career  in  the 
service. ' ' 

Nor  are  we  here  to  perpetuate  a  spirit  of  military 
ambition.  We  are  here  now,  as  we  were  joined  in 
the  army,  as  citizens  and  lovers  of  our  country  and 
our  country's  liberties.  The  inspiration  of  hope 
which  we  renew,  is  the  hope  for  the  continuance  of 
liberty  and  peace  in  a  happy  land.  In  that  glorious 
expectation  is  our  joy  and  our  reward.  Upon  it  we 
build  our  trust  in  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
ourselves,  our  families,  and  our  posterity.  And  the 
dearest  wish  to  the  heart  of  the  old  soldier  of  Amer- 

[77] 


ica  is,  that  when,  his  life  work  done,  he  turns  his 
last  look  upon  the  scenes  of  earth,  he  may  close  his 
eyes  upon  the  country  he  has  saved,  standing  secure 
from  every  danger,  the  dispenser  to  men  of  all  the 
blessings  government  can  bestow. 

I  picture  him  in  fancy,  sometimes,  when  his  age 
shall  have  settled  upon  him,  and  the  labor  and  toil 
of  manhood  shall  have  passed,  as  he  waits  for  the 
summons  to  go  where  his  comrades  have  gone  be 
fore.  I  see  him  sit  upon  the  western  porch  of  his 
children's  cottage  home, — where  the  well-kept  vines 
have  clambered  on  the  lattice, — while  the  sunny 
afternoon  sinks  away.  He  holds  upon  his  knee  the 
sweet  grand-daughter  who  is  nearest  to  his  heart. 
Translating  to  the  simple  speech  of  childhood,  he 
tells  her  tales  of  younger  days,  when  he  was  a  soldier 
for  his  country.  How  sweetly  she  listens,  with  won 
dering  eyes!  How  proudly  she  thinks  of  the  great 
actions  in  which  her  grandsire  had  a  part!  How 
tender  the  joy  of  that  old  man's  love  for  the  little 
beginner  of  life! 

Bye  and  bye  the  soft  warmth  of  the  summer's  day 
inclines  him  to  sleep,  and  his  old  frame,  once  so 
strong,  is  now  easily  wearied.  The  continued  talk 
ing  has  tired  his  senses,  and  his  head  drops  back 
upon  his  easy  chair.  She  pillows  her  face  upon  his 
breast,  and  together  they  rest  in  gentle  slumber- 
emblems  of  Peace  reposing  in  the  arms  of  its  savior 
and  defender!  Lo!  from  the  evening  sun  a  ray 
breaks  through  between  the  trees,  and  falls  upon 
his  whitened  locks  with  a  touch  of  light  and  glory. 
It  is  the  benediction  of  heaven  on  the  old  soldier  of 
Liberty!  May  it  rest  on  them  all,  forever! 

[78] 


BANQUET  ORATION 

ON  OUR  FIRST  COMMANDER 

GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

1879 


Stormfield,  Redding,  Connecticut, 

October  13,  1909. 
Dear  Mrs.  Vilas: 

I  thank  you  so  much  for  the  Memorial,  ivhich  I 
have  read  with  the  deepest  interest.  I  had  a  warm 
place  in  my  heart  for  Colonel  Vilas,  and  a  great  ad 
miration  for  his  lofty  gifts  and  character.  I  can 
still  vividly  see  him,  as  I  saw  him  twenty  years  ago, 
lacking  a  month,  at  the  Grant  banquet  in  Chicago, 
as  he  stood  upon  a  table,  with  his  tips  closing  upon 
the  last  word  of  his  magnificent  speech,  and  his 
happy  eyes  looking  out  in  contentment  over  a  sea  of 
applauding  soldiers  glimpsed  through  a  frantic 
storm  of  waving  napkins — a  great  picture,  and  one 
which  will  never  grow  dim  in  my  memory. 

I  thank  you  again,  dear  madam. 

Sincerely  yours, 
(Signed)     S.  L.  Clemens. 

P.  S.     No,  it  was  thirty  years  ago. 


ORATION  ON  OUR  FIRST  COMMANDER 
GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

AT  THE  ANNUAL  BANQUET  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE 

ARMY  OF  THE  TENNESSEE,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

NOVEMBER  13,  1879 

Your  call  invites  me,  sir,  I  am  conscious,  to  give 
expression  to  the  profound  feeling  with  which  every 
heart  of  our  assembled  companions  responds  to  the 
stirring  sentiment.  But  how  shall  I  attempt  to 
choose,  in  the  brief  compass  the  occasion  allows, 
from  the  multitudinous  thoughts  that  crowd  the 
mind  ?  Our  first  commander,  the  illustrious  General 
whose  fame  has  grown  to  fill  the  world!  Nay,  more! 
Our  old  band  of  the  Tennessee  was  his  first  army! 
What  honorable  memories  of  old  assocations,  you, 
companions,  may  now  recall! 

How  splendid  was  your  entrance  on  the  scene  of 
arms!  The  anxious  eye  of  the  North  had  long  been 
fixed  intently  on  the  eastern  theatre,  almost  uncon 
scious  of  the  new-formed  Army  of  the  Tennessee 
and  its  unknown  general.  Suddenly  there  fell  on  the 
startled  ear  the  roar  of  your  fight  at  Donelson,  and 
your  chieftain's  victorious  cry, — which  waked  the 
country's  heart  to  ecstacy,  and  rung,  like  a  pro 
phetic  knell,  the  doom  our  army  of  salvation  bore  to 
rebels — "Nothing  but  unconditional  surrender." 

Then,  but  a  few  days  later,  there  burst  at  Shiloh, 
on  his  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  the  flame  and  fury 

[85] 


of  the  first  great  field  fight  of  the  war.  In  desperate 
doubt,  the  nightfall  of  the  bloody  day  closed  on  the 
unequal  struggle.  Higher,  then,  rose  the  iron  reso 
lution  of  that  great  commander!  Urged  by  cautious 
counsel  to  prepare  a  way  for  retreat,  with  trust  in 
your  valor,  he  gave  the  characteristic  answer,  "I 
have  not  despaired  of  whipping  them  yet."  And 
loyally,  on  the  morrow,  was  he  vindicated  in  that 
reliance,  as  he  rode  before  the  soldiery,  driving  the 
enemy  over  the  victorious  field. 

How  darkly  comes  back  in  recollection  the  long 
and  dismal  toil  in  the  pestilential  swamps  before 
impregnable  Vicksburg!  The  sky  was  overhung  in 
gloom,  and  the  soaked  earth  sunk  under  the  foot. 
Unlit  by  the  flash  of  powder,  unheralded  by  the 
noise  of  arms,  in  miserable  darkness,  the  last  enemy 
irresistibly  plied  his  fatal  work,  changing  the  river 
levees — where  only  was  solid  ground  for  burial — 
into  tombs  for  our  trebly-decimated  ranks.  Then, 
again,  new  light  broke  from  his  troubled  genius  on 
the  scene,  and  displayed  the  possible  path  for  valor. 
Breaking  past  the  rebel  battlements  and  across  the 
great  river,  he  flung  our  army  into  the  midst  of  the 
hostile  host,  like  a  mighty  gladiator  surrounded  by 
his  foes,  choosing  no  escape  but  in  victory.  There, 
with  fiery  zest,  in  fierce  rapidity  he  smote  the  foe  the 
crushing  strokes  of  Port  Gibson,  Eaymond,  Jack 
son,  Champion  Hills,  and  Black  River,  and  seized 
the  doomed  city  with  the  unrelenting  grasp  of  his 
Army  of  the  Tennessee.  And  when,  on  the  new 
birthday  of  the  republic,  her  flag  shook  out  its  beau 
tiful  folds  above  the  ramparts  of  that  boasted  cita- 

[86] 


del,  the  territory  of  revolt  was  finally  split  in  twain, 
the  backbone  of  rebellion  was  broken. 

Such,  in  a  glance,  is  your  splendid  story,  com 
panions,  under  our  first  commander! 

He  and  his  Army  of  the  Tennessee  entered  on  the 
page  of  history  together.  Together  they  achieved 
the  first  great  prophetic  triumphs  for  the  Union; 
together  they  followed  and  fought  her  enemies  from 
field  to  field,  pushing  our  advancing  arms  in  steady 
career  toward  the  Gulf.  Nor  were  their  efforts  for 
our  country  disunited  until,  having  dismembered 
the  vast  rebellion,  the  beginning  of  its  utter  down 
fall  had  been  seen. 

Guided  by  his  genius,  your  army  had  learned  to 
fight  only  to  conquer.  Parted  from  him,  it  forgot 
not  the  teaching.  Its  march  and  war  struck  every 
revolted  state  save  two,  but  never  general  anywhere 
lamented  over  its  retreat  from  the  field  of  arms. 
Joyfully  may  we  point  to  that  exalted  fame,  which, 
rising  like  a  pinnacle  of  the  Alps,  breaks  through 
the  firmament  above  to  carry  up  the  name  of  the 
unconquered  Grant ;  for  it  is  our  felicity,  that  on  the 
solid  base  from  which  it  lifts,  history  has  written 
the  proud  legend  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee, 
which  never  shunned  and  never  lost  a  battle  with 
its  foes. 

Joined  to  it  by  such  a  story,  and  especially  when 
so  assembled,  his  old  associates  and  soldiers  in  war, 
we  may  rightfully,  without  censure  and  without 
adulation,  claim  and  speak  the  just  measure  of  his 
merit  and  renown.  Nor  shall  his  presence  deny  that 
satisfaction  to  us.  His  reputation  is  not  his,  not 

[87] 


even  his  country's  alone;  it  is,  in  part,  our  peculiar 
possession.  We  who  fought  to  aid  its  rising,  may 
well  rejoice  in  its  meridian  splendor. 

The  foundations  of  his  title  are  deep  laid  and 
safe.  There  was  reaction  in  the  minds  of  our  people 
after  the  intense  strain  of  war  and  many  distracting 
subjects  for  attention.  But  with  regained  compos 
ure  and  reflection,  his  reputation  augments,  and  its 
foundations  more  and  more  plainly  appear  irre- 
movably  fixed  for  lasting  duration.  They  spring  not 
from  merely  having  enjoyed  possession  of  the  hon 
ors  of  place  and  power,  which  his  countrymen  have 
bestowed;  others  have  had  them  too.  They  lie  not 
specially  on  his  shining  courage  and  personal  con 
duct  before  the  enemy,  who  was  never  outdone  in 
calm  intrepidity;  nor  in  the  splendid  daring  with 
which  he  ever  urged  the  battle  he  immediately  or 
dered;  though  long  these  will  live  in  song  and  story. 
Beyond  the  warrior's  distinction — which  was  his 
early  glory — his  is  the  true  genius  of  the  general. 
The  strategic  learning  of  the  military  art  was  to 
him  a  simple  implement,  like  colors  and  brush  to  a 
Raphael,  not  fetters  to  the  mind.  How  like  a  weapon 
in  a  giant's  hand,  did  he  wield  the  vast  aggrega 
tions  of  soldiery,  whose  immensity  oppressed  so 
many  minds!  How  easily  moved  his  divisions,  yet 
how  firm  the  place  of  all!  How  every  soldier  came 
to  feel  his  participation  a  direct  contribution  to  the 
general  success!  And  when,  at  length,  his  merit 
won  the  government  of  the  entire  military  power  of 
the  North,  how  perfect  became,  without  noise  or 
friction,  the  co-operation  of  every  army,  of  every 

[88] 


strength  throughout  the  wide  territory  of  the  war, 
toward  the  common  end!  Subordinate  every  will 
and  jealous  soul — the  profound  military  wisdom  of 
the  capital,  even  to  the  clear  purpose  and  compre 
hensive  grasp  of  the  one  commanding  mind!  Then 
how  rapidly  crumbled  on  every  side  the  crushed  re 
volt!  Where  shall  we  find,  in  past  records,  the  tale 
of  such  a  struggle,  so  enormous  in  extent,  so  nearly 
matched  at  the  outset,  so  desperately  contested,  so 
effectively  decided!  Through  what  a  course  of  un 
interrupted  victory  did  he  proceed  from  the  earliest 
engagements  to  a  complete  dominion  of  the  vast 
catastrophe ! 

Spare,  in  pity,  the  poor  brain  which  cannot  see, 
in  this  career,  more  than  a  dogged  pertinacity!  Out 
upon  the  unjust  prejudice  which  will  consciously 
disparage  the  true  meed  of  genius!  Leave  it  where 
his  reliant  silence  leaves  it!  Leave  it  to  history! 
Leave  it  to  the  world ! 

But  in  the  great  cause  so  well  understood,  and  the 
great  results  to  men,  so  well  accomplished,  the  basis 
of  his  renown  is  justly  broadened.  For  the  salva 
tion  of  this  government  of  freedom  for  mankind,  we 
took  up  arms.  When  liberty  was  safe,  they  were 
again  laid  down.  Eisen  to  the  highest  seat  of  power, 
he  has  descended  as  a  citizen,  of  equal  rank  with 
all.  This  goes  to  the  soul  of  American  liberty,  en 
nobling  individual  citizenship  above  all  servants  in 
office.  His  is  indeed  the  noblest  grandeur  of  man 
hood,  who  can  rise  from  the  grasp  of  over-topping 
power  above  the  ambition  of  self,  to  exalt  the  am 
bition  of  humanity;  denying  the  spoils  of  the  brief 
time  to  the  lasting  guerdon  of  immortal  honor. 

[89] 


The  judgment  of  immediate  contemporaries  has 
been  apt  to  rise  too  high  or  fall  too  low.  But  let  not 
detraction  or  calumny  mislead.  They  have  ever 
been  the  temporal  accompaniments  of  human  great 
ness.  That  glory  cannot  rise  beyond  the  clouds 
which  passes  not  through  the  clouds.  We  may  con 
fidently  accept  the  judgment  of  the  world.  It  has 
been  unmistakably  delivered.  But  lately,  as  he  has 
pressed  his  wandering  course  about  the  round  earth, 
mankind  have  everywhere  bowed  in  homage  at  his 
coming,  as  the  ancient  devotees  of  the  East  fell  be 
fore  the  sun  at  his  rising.  These  honors  were  not 
paid  to  his  person,  which  was  unknown;  they  were 
not  paid  to  his  country,  for  which  he  went  on  no 
errand,  and  whose  representative  never  had  the  like 
before;  they  were  not  paid  to  him  as  to  some  poten 
tate  of  a  people,  for  he  journeyed  not  as  a  man  in 
power.  They  have  been  the  willing  prostration  of 
mortality  before  a  glory  imperishable! 

His  memory  shall,  indeed,  be  in  the  line  of  the 
heroes  of  war,  but  distinctive,  and  apart  from  the 
greater  number.  Not  with  the  kind  of  Alexander, 
who  ravaged  the  earth  to  add  to  mere  dominion; 
nor  of  Belisarius,  who  but  fed  the  greedy  craving 
of  an  imperial  beast  of  prey;  not  with  Marlborough, 
Eugene,  Wellington,  who  played  the  parts  set  them 
by  the  craft  of  diplomacy;  not  with  the  Napoleons, 
who  chose  "to  wade  through  slaughter  to  a  throne, 
and  shut  the  gates  of  mercy  on  mankind;"  not  with 
Caesar,  who  would  have  put  the  ambitious  hand  of 
arms  on  the  delicate  fabric  of  constitutional  free 
dom;  America  holds  a  higher  place  in  the  congrega- 

[90] 


tion  of  glory  for  her  heroes  of  liberty,  where  sits,  in 
expectation,  her  majestic  Washington.  In  nobler 
ambition  than  the  gaining  of  empire,  they  have 
borne  their  puissant  arms  for  the  kingdom  of  man, 
where  liberty  reigneth  forever.  From  the  blood 
poured  out  in  their  warfare,  sweet  incense  rose  to 
heaven,  and  angels  soothed,  with  honorable  pride, 
the  tears  which  sorrow  started  for  the  dead. 

Home  again,  now,  our  first  commander,  after  the 
journey  of  the  world.  Here,  here  again  we  greet 
him  at  our  social  board,  where,  with  recurring  years, 
we  regale  on  the  deeper-ripening  memories  of  our 
soldiership  for  freedom.  Partakers  of  the  labors, 
the  perils,  the  triumphs,  which  were  the  beginnings 
of  his  glory,  we  join  now,  in  exultation,  in  the  wel 
coming  honors  by  which  his  grateful  countrymen 
tell  their  foreknowledge  of  the  immortality  of  his 
renown. 

Long  and  many  be  the  years,  illustrious  leader, 
before  your  hour  of  departure  comes!  Green  and 
vigorous  be  your  age,  undecayed  every  faculty  of 
mind  and  sense,  in  full  fruition  of  the  well-earned 
joys  of  life;  happy  in  the  welfare  of  your  native 
land,  the  love  of  your  countrymen,  and  admiration 
of  the  world. 


[91] 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF 
THE  SOCIETY. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  fidly  portray  the  scene  fol 
lowing  the  conclusion  of  Colonel  Vilas'  response.  The 
entire  banquet  party  rose  to  its  feet,  and  the  hall 
resounded  with  cheer  upon  cheer,  and  each  indi 
vidual  seemed  to  contest,  with  marks  of  apprecia 
tion,  till  Colonel  Vilas  was  compelled  again  to  rise, 
standing  in  his  chair,  while  hearty  cheers  were 
given.  Rarely  has  such  eloquence  been  observed, 
and  never  in  the  history  of  our  Society. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  EDWARD  G.  RYAN 
A  MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 

1880 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  EDWARD  G.  RYAN 

A  MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 
MADISON,  WISCONSIN,  OCTOBER  19,  1880 

May  it  Please  Your  Honors: 

The  unusual  assemblage  of  so  many  of  the  bar  of 
the  state,  the  sad  sense  of  bereavement  and  sorrow 
which  sits  upon  the  visages  of  those  here  present, 
the  funeral  decorations  of  this  court  room,  that 
empty  chair, — so  eloquent — all  presage  the  melan 
choly  announcement  which  I  am  deputed  by  my 
brethren  of  the  state  bar,  in  accordance  with  the 
solemn  usages  of  the  profession,  to  formally  make  to 
the  court. 

Chief  Justice  Ryan  is  no  more. 

That  profound  and  abundant  wealth  of  learning, 
that  eloquent  tongue,  that  massive  brain,  which,  like 
an  exhaustless  mine,  yielded  richer  stores  the  deeper 
it  was  tried,  while  its  every  product  sparkled  with 
the  gleam  of  priceless  value,  are  gone  from  men,  lost 
to  us  and  to  the  state,  forever. 

A  pioneer  of  civilization  to  the  bar  of  the  west; 
an  advocate  fit  to  cope  with  any  of  historic  renown; 
a  lawyer  and  a  judge  of  comprehensive  and  accurate 
learning,  penetrating  acumen  and  wise  judgment, 
the  head  of  the  bar  and  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
state:  profession  and  people  may  well  sit  down  in 
sack  cloth  and  ashes,  lamenting  our  irreparable  loss. 

[97] 


"He  was  a  man,  take  him  all  in  all,  we  shall  not  look 
upon  his  like  again. " 

The  duty  of  this  solemn  hour  I  cannot  hope  to  dis 
charge.  The  day  for  preparation  afforded  me  has 
been  half  destroyed  by  illness.  But  no  time  would 
be  enough  for  me  to  do  the  great  theme  justice.  He 
was,  in  every  aspect  in  which  his  character  and  abili 
ties  are  regarded,  an  extraordinary  man.  Every 
faculty  he  exerted,  every  accomplishment  he  as 
sumed  to  possess,  every  passion  which  moved  him, 
was  great,  intensely  great.  He  was  a  giant  among 
men,  in  soul,  intellect,  and  attributes. 

It  would  require  his  own  power  and  discrimina 
tion,  his  own  perfection  of  speech,  truly  to  represent 
him.  In  the  hands  of  such  an  artist  in  language, 
the  portrait  of  his  mind  and  character  would  be  as 
striking  and  absorbing  in  interest  as  any  ever  drawn 
for  the  gaze  and  wonder  of  mankind.  But  who  now 
shall  paint  it?  I  know  none  who  could  but  him,  and, 
in  his  death,  the  subject,  the  artist,  and  the  portrait, 
are  lost  together. 

I  shall  attempt  but  a  rapid  statement  of  his  life, 
and  to  point  out  a  few  salient  features  of  his  char 
acter  and  powers. 

On  the  13th  of  November,  1810,  at  New  Castle 
House,  in  the  county  of  Meath,  Ireland,  Edward  Gr. 
Eyan  was  born.  His  parents  were  possessors  of  for 
tune,  but,  a  second  son,  he  took  no  share,  save  what 
was  bestowed  on  his  education.  He  completed,  in 
1827,  the  course  of  instruction  at  Clougone's  Wood 
Cottage,  and  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law.  He 
had  but  partly  finished  that  course  when,  in  1830, 

[98] 


he  migrated  to  New  York.  There,  sometimes  teach 
ing  in  private  schools,  sometimes  at  work  in  the 
office  to  gain  support,  he  pursued  his  legal  studies 
until  1836.  In  that  year  he  was  called  to  the  bar 
and  removed  to  Chicago,  then  but  a  village  in  the 
remote  west.  Here  he  practiced  for  six  years, 
mingling  with  professional  duties  the  work  of  edit 
ing  a  newspaper.  In  1840  and  1841  he  was  prosecut 
ing  attorney  of  the  county.  In  1842  he  changed  his 
residence  to  Racine;  and  in  1846  represented  that 
county  in  the  first  constitutional  convention  of  Wis 
consin.  In  1848  he  removed  his  residence  to  Mil 
waukee,  where  his  bones  now  repose.  There  he  prac 
ticed  his  profession  until  called  in  June,  1874,  to 
this  bench,  holding  in  the  meantime,  for  three  years, 
the  office  of  city  attorney.  From  the  time  he  took 
his  seat  here,  he  continued  in  faithful  labor,  often 
interrupted  by  failing  health,  but  always  persist 
ently  resumed,  until  the  13th  day  of  October  last, 
when,  broken  and  exhausted  by  his  patient  toil,  he 
descended  from  his  seat  to  his  last  bed,  where  on 
the  morning  of  the  19th  of  October  he  passed  away. 
Laid  to  his  final  rest  by  his  brethren  of  the  bar  and 
bench,  his  remains  repose  in  Forest  Home  Cemetery, 
near  the  city  of  his  unchanging  love. 

Heaven  give  him  rest! 

It  is  a  fair  question  whether  his  wondrous  pow 
ers  as  a  writer,  a  speaker,  and  a  lawyer  were  due  in 
greater  degree  to  the  strength  of  his  natural  parts 
or  the  perfection  of  his  education.  Perhaps  gener 
ally  it  would  be  answered,  to  the  former.  But  cer 
tain  it  is,  no  one  was  ever  more  finished  by  educa- 

[99] 


tion.  Every  spoken  and  every  written  performance 
of  his  life  bears  the  impress  of  his  learning,  shines 
conspicuously  with  the  lustre  of  his  scholarship. 
His  training  was  chiefly  in  law  and  in  language;  in 
both  he  was  remarkable  for  accuracy  and  finish. 
And  it  is  especially  noteworthy,  in  his  eminence  in 
both,  that  he  was  self  trained.  He  finished  his  course 
in  school  at  seventeen;  he  was  but  twenty  when  he 
quit  his  pupilage  in  law  in  his  native  country  for 
the  new  world.  From  that  time  forward  his  instruc 
tion  was  administered  to  him  by  himself,  from  books 
and  observation  of  men.  His  history,  as  we  see  it, 
discloses  no  marked  precocity.  For  six  years  after 
his  coming  to  this  country,  he  supported  himself  by 
teaching  and  clerical  labor,  while  he  prosecuted  his 
preparations  for  the  profession.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  at  twenty-six,  but  does  not  appear  to  have 
attracted  especial  attention  to  his  superior  powers 
until  past  thirty.  He  was  in  his  thirty-sixth  year, 
when,  in  the  first  constitutional  convention  of  the 
territory,  he  acquired  that  acknowledged  preemi 
nence  which  he  ever  after  maintained. 

To  me,  his  natural  parts  appear  most  splendid 
and  valuable  for  the  manner  in  which  they  assimi 
lated  and  profited  by  knowledge  and  observation. 
Every  book  he  read  and  every  phase  of  life  he 
passed,  made  addition  to  his  powers.  He  did  not 
merely  read  and  seek  to  add  to  his  store  of  learning; 
what  he  gained  was  not  so  much  increase  of  posses 
sions,  as  increase  of  power,  of  the  mind.  He  read 
much,  but  never  inactively.  No  book  held  him  in 
passive  submission;  he  mastered  it  easily  with  an 

[  100  ] 


acute  and  analytical  grasp.  His  memory  was  re 
tentive  and  exact;  yet  he  never  seemed  to  speak  so 
much  from  remembrance  as  from  himself.  This  was 
no  less  true  of  his  discourse  upon  legal  than  upon 
literary  topics.  His  understanding  was  so  informed 
by  his  methods  of  study,  that  what  it  gave  forth 
was  his  own;  if  in  substance  it  was  the  learning  of 
the  books,  in  form  and  manner  it  was  so  marked  by 
his  genius  as  to  be  apparently  his  own. 

And  so  vigorous  was  his  grasp,  so  clear  his  con 
ception,  so  finished  his  style,  that  it  is  rare  to  find 
instances  where  he  has  added  to  the  vigor  and 
beauty  of  his  expression  by  any  quotation  from  oth 
ers,  although  his  extensive  reading  supplied  him 
readily. 

But  he  was  not  only  rich  in  the  lore  of  books,  he 
was  an  accurate  observer  of  men.  It  has  never  been 
my  fortune  to  meet  with  any  who  was  his  equal 
in  ability  to  analyze  character.  He  read  the  motives 
of  action,  the  various  faculties  and  changing  char 
acteristics  of  men,  with  intuitive  ease  and  nice  jus 
tice.  This  gave  peculiar  force  to  his  speech  when 
inveighing  against  the  conduct  and  motives  of  those 
he  attacked, — a  feature  of  his  powers  which  made 
him  not  less  terrible  to  his  enemies,  than  the  wonder 
of  his  hearers,  when  the  occasion  demanded  or  al 
lowed  the  exhibition. 

His  course  of  self-education  was  not  limited,  as  so 
commonly  the  error  is  made,  to  mere  processes  of 
study.  He  refined  and  corrected  his  ideas  by  dili 
gent  writing,  and  enlarged  their  abundance  by  fre 
quent  conversation.  They  who  read  with  delight 

[101] 


the  smooth  and  delicious  flow  of  his  composition, 
who  ride  at  ease  of  understanding  upon  the  per 
spicuous  current  of  his  expressed  thought,  clearly 
informed,  without  effort  of  their  own  save  attention, 
upon  abstruse  and  difficult  subjects  of  distressful 
doubt,  are  little  fitted  to  realize  the  freight  of  labor 
which  every  word  carried  from  his  brain.  Yet  they 
who  know  his  habit  of  writing  can  testify  to  the 
painstaking  toil  with  which  he  criticised  and  puri 
fied  every  product  of  his  pen.  He  could,  if  he  would, 
compose  with  a  rapidity  unsurpassed  by  any;  and 
the  hasty  labor  of  his  desk  he  could  well  trust  in 
competition  with  the  fruit  of  pains  in  others.  But 
he  was  too  sincere  arid  ardent  a  servant  and  lover  of 
the  English  language  to  imprint  her  words  with 
haste,  or  indolent  inattention,  on  a  page  where  they 
might  stand  to  her  and  his  reproach.  To  him  the 
legal  rule  of  interpretation  was  a  fact:  "Every  word 
has  its  meaning. "  He  vigorously  condemned  the 
debauchery  of  language  which  the  rapid  penny-a- 
liners  of  the  newspapers  have  inflicted  on  our  native 
tongue,  and  the  speech  of  some,  even,  of  our  scholars. 
So,  in  all  his  labor  of  writing,  dictionaries  were 
his  companions  and  his  friends.  He  trusted  to  no 
one  of  them,  but,  surrounded  by  many,  he  gathered 
from  the  best  linguists  the  perfect  hue  of  intelligence 
and  beauty  that  belonged  to  every  word  he  used, 
and  set  it  then  in  happy  harmony  with  its  fellows 
in  the  finished  picture  of  thought  which  his  every 
period  became.  Such  discipline  had  its  reward.  His 
style  is  his  own, — strong,  clear,  and  beautiful;  not 
wholly  without  fault,  but  as  worthy  of  study  as 

[102] 


Addison's;  not  always,  in  Ms  opinions,  perfectly 
judicial,  but  turning  from  that  path  only  to  bring 
in  gems  of  beauty  by  the  way.  To  be  able  to  write 
as  Edward  G.  Eyan  has  written,  is  a  crown  of  glory 
in  letters,  a  sufficient  title  to  literary  renown. 

He  cultivated  conversation,  and,  as  I  have 
thought,  not  only  for  its  pleasure,  but  for  its  bene 
fits  to  him.  Certain  it  is,  he  shone  in  social  discourse 
with  a  brilliancy  not  often  equalled.  In  happy  hours, 
when  in  health  and  spirits,  who  more  delightful 
than  he?  His  rapid  and  easy  speech  was  wise  or 
witty  as  the  time  and  subject  suited,  but  always 
sweet  in  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  the  language 
he  employed.  He  was  ever  conspicuous  for  elegant 
diction  in  ordinary  speech;  nor  did  the  tumult  of 
emotion  or  passion  which  sometimes  possessed  him 
mar  his  accomplishments,  or  lead  him  to  vulgarity. 
It  rather  seemed  to  heighten  and  intensify  his  pow 
ers,  and  clothe  his  expressions  with  a  richer  color. 

Thus  the  self-imposed  habits  and  discipline  of  his 
entire  life  finished  and  perfected  all  the  powers  of 
the  man.  He  met  all  the  points  of  Bacon's  aphor 
ism:  reading  made  him  a  full  man;  conference  a 
ready  man;  and  writing  an  exact  man. 

View  his  finished  character  and  faculties  as 
trained  and  accomplished  by  his  course  of  educa 
tion,  and  discarding  the  faults  of  temperament  and 
want  of  self-control  which  blighted  his  life, — cast 
ing  up  the  account  on  his  credit  side  only,  how  splen 
did  and  magnificent  does  he  appear,  the  ideal  and 
mirror  of  professional  power  and  glory. 

[103] 


His  learning  of  the  law  was  thorough  and  pro 
found.  To  him  the  science  of  jurisprudence  was  an 
open  book,  every  page  familiar  to  his  eye.  He  was 
trained  in  its  technical  learning  and  versed  in  the 
long  line  of  precedents  and  judicial  opinions  which 
support  and  explain  its  nice  distinctions  and  some 
time  arbitrary  doctrines.  But  he  was  far  beyond 
that  plane,  the  level  only  of  the  complete  case  law 
yer.  He  knew  the  law  far  more  profoundly.  He  had 
traversed  the  great  superstructure  with  patient  ex 
amination  from  its  deepest  foundations  to  the  last 
pinnacle  on  the  turret.  He  saw  it  not  merely  as  a 
builded  thing,  acknowledging  its  parts  and  relations 
because  he  found  them  so.  He  knew  the  principles 
on  which  its  foundations  rest,  which  support  its 
noble  walls,  and  partition  its  manifold  departments, 
which  inspire  its  pillars  and  its  arches,  which  gild 
its  towers  with  light,  and  fill  its  secret  recesses  with 
the  blessing  of  justice  for  men.  He  knew  it  as  an 
architect  who  might  have  builded  it,  and  who  could 
finish,  in  harmony  with  the  whole,  the  parts  on 
which  his  duty  set  him  to  work. 

And  not  alone  the  common  law — the  law  of  nature 
as  applied  to  the  relations  of  men  among  themselves; 
but  his  perception  of  the  complex  and  delicate  rela 
tions  of  the  different  portions  and  civil  divisions  of 
the  union,  and  of  the  various  duties  and  powers  of 
its  numerous  officers  and  tribunals,  federal  and  state, 
was  singularly  acute  and  comprehensive.  Though  a 
native  of  another  land,  he  had  from  boyhood  pro 
foundly  contemplated  the  wisdom  of  the  fathers  of 
this  country  of  his  adoption;  and  he  was  fit  and 

[104] 


ready,  when  the  hour  came,  to  give  unanswerable 
expression  to  that  discriminating  judgment  of  this 
court  to  recede  from  its  former  declaration  that  a 
statute  of  this  state  was  void  under  the  federal  con 
stitution,  and  to  suffer  its  enforcement  according  to 
the  mandate  of  this  tribunal.  In  that  result  this 
bench  and  its  bar,  as  well  as  the  rights  of  the  people, 
gained  signal  illustration. 

Founded  on  such  learning,  our  departed  leader 
could  not  but  be  a  great  lawyer.  But  his  profes 
sional  powers  were  not  only  strong;  they  shone  with 
splendor.  He  was  a  great  advocate  and  a  great 
orator.  In  many  a  cause  in  the  forum,  upon  many  a 
platform  before  the  people,  he  has  exhibited  the  elo 
quence  and  action,  which,  with  their  opportunities, 
would  have  ranked  him  among  the  great  names  of 
the  world.  And  though  the  memory  of  the  advocate 
is  local  and  generally  fades  with  his  generation,  he 
has  left  in  bequest  to  his  professional  brethren  some 
such  examples  of  forensic  eloquence  as  they  will 
not  "willingly  let  die." 

But  he  will  be  longest  remembered  and  honored 
for  his  work  as  the  Chief  Justice  of  this  court. 

He  came  to  this  great  place,  as  every  one  should 
come  who  is  worthy  to  occupy  it.  He  came  in  the 
ripeness  of  years  and  experience,  after  a  long  life  of 
labor  at  the  bar.  He  came  laden  with  profound 
knowledge  of  the  science  he  was  to  administer.  He 
came  not  from  some  obscure  corner,  to  sit  in  judg 
ment  on  arguments  greater  than  his  understanding; 
he  was  pushed  by  no  skillful  intrigue  into  a  shameful 
reward  for  mere  party  service:  but,  sought  and 

[  105  ] 


taken  from  the  topmost  place  of  professional  leader 
ship,  which,  by  merit,  he  had  worthily  won,  he  came 
fit  to  govern  and  control  where  for  so  long  he  had 
confessedly  led.  He  came  to  the  judgment  seat  with 
an  honorable  ambition  as  to  the  crowning  glory  of  a 
devoted  professional  life;  but  he  came  reverently, 
with  an  exalted  sense  of  the  responsibilities  he  as 
sumed,  and  a  noble  devotion  of  all  his  faculties  and 
strength  to  the  performance  of  its  duties.  He  came 
to  rest  on  no  pillow  of  repose,  but  to  toil  and  build, 
that  he  might  still  higher  elevate  the  court  and  the 
law,  and  exalt  justice  on  earth. 

And  so  he  bent  to  his  task  with  all  the  conscien 
tious  intensity  of  his  nature.  There  fell  to  his  lot  to 
decide  and  elucidate  as  important  and  interesting 
questions  as  any  which  have  come  before  this  bench 
since  its  institution.  I  need  not  say  in  this  presence 
with  what  satisfaction  he  expounded  the  views  of 
the  court.  His  opinions  were  not  only  profound,  but 
profoundly  beautiful  in  every  circumstance  which 
excites  the  admiration  of  the  lawyer.  It  is  a  matter 
of  no  wonder  that  a  great  university  of  the  land  has 
chosen  them  for  commendation  to  students  of  law  as 
models  of  the  purity,  beauty,  and  strength  of  the 
English  tongue.  They  will  carry  his  name  with 
growing  honor  to  generations  of  students  and  law 
yers  yet  unborn. 

Few,  indeed,  are  the  law  books,  where  so  much 
of  excellence  in  literature  and  law  is  combined  to 
the  advantage  of  both;  where  the  lamp  of  literature 
so  illuminates  the  dark  obscurities  of  the  law,  with 
out  a  ray  of  meretricious  light;  where  the  strength 

[106] 


of  jurisprudence  so  informs  words  of  beautiful  har 
mony  with  a  solid  majesty  like  Grecian  architecture. 

We  can  but  remember,  too,  that  much  of  this 
crowning  labor  was  done  when  his  old  frame  was 
broken  by  the  weight  of  years  and  infirmities,  and 
torn  by  convulsions  of  passion;  when  his  hours  of 
rest  were  disconsolate  and  lonely,  or  racked  with 
pain. 

For  with  that  justice  he  would  have  unsparingly 
administered,  we  cannot  omit  from  view  his  faults 
and  imperfections.  They,  too,  were  great.  Princi 
pal  of  all  was  his  sudden  and  violent  temper.  The 
electric  current  responds  no  quicker  to  a  disturbing 
influence,  than  did  his  wrath  to  an  offensive  touch; 
and  its  explosions  are  not  more  furious  than  the  out 
bursts  of  his  anger.  His  passions  burned,  when 
lighted,  like  a  flaming  volcano,  shaking  him  with 
fearful  violence,  and  belching  the  hot  lava  of  his 
wrath  on  everything  and  everybody  which  stood  in 
opposition.  He  was  a  painful  proof  of  the  value  of 
self  control.  For  the  chiefest  misfortune  of  his  life 
was  his  weakness  in  presence  of  his  own  passion. 
That  subdued  and  governed  him,  turning  his  power 
to  his  own  destruction.  It  made  him  terrible  to  his 
friends  as  well  as  his  enemies;  tyrannical,  perhaps 
sometimes  cruel,  where  he  should  have  been  gentle 
.  and  ]oving;  suspicious  and  jealous,  where  he  should 
have  been  confiding;  violent  and  hostile,  where  he 
ought  to  have  been  friendly.  It  led  him  into  false 
positions,  from  which  he  was  too  proud  to  with 
draw.  It  stood  in  the  path  of  his  advancement 
among  men,  like  a  flaming  sword.  It  turned  friends 

[107] 


into  enemies,  and  froze  off  the  tendrils  of  love.  It 
brought  humiliation,  grief,  and  loneliness  to  his  soul 
and  his  hearthstone. 

Let  us  drop  the  veil  over  the  contemplation  of 
these  infirmities  of  a  great  and  noble  mind.  If,  as  I 
believe,  these  afflictions  of  character  were  mostly 
but  manifestations  of  physical  disease,  which,  at 
varying  periods  and  with  unequal  intensity,  spread 
inflammation  through  the  sensitive  fibre  of  his  brain, 
the  fault  was  not  his  own.  The  tear  of  pity  must 
fall  at  view  of  the  sufferings  that  his  nature  in 
flicted.  For,  to  whatever  his  infirmities  were  due, 
he  was  their  victim  and  the  great  sufferer.  With 
his  death,  their  consequences  mainly  cease.  What 
he  leaves  behind  is  the  product  and  the  legacy  of 
his  worth  and  virtue.  The  good  he  has  done  lives 
after  him;  let  the  evil  be  interred  with  his  bones. 

When  we  review  his  life,  let  us  turn  from  its  dark 
ness  and  weakness,  and  rather  view  him  in  periods 
of  light  and  power.  Look  on  him  in  the  happy  hours 
of  health.  Thus  shall  you  perceive  the  possibilities 
of  his  forces,  and  better  take  the  lesson  from  his  in 
firmities. 

It  is  for  us  to  contemplate  him  as  he  was  to  us,  the 
lawyer  and  the  judge.  No  lawyer  ever  lived  whose 
standing  of  professional  excellence  was  exalted 
higher.  His  conception  of  professional  morals  are  as 
noble  and  refined,  as  pure  and  elevating,  as  wisdom, 
philosophy,  and  religion  can  form.  He  loved  and 
honored  the  profession  of  the  law  above  all  occupa 
tions  of  men ;  he  reverenced  it  as  "  subrogated, "  so  he 
said,  "on  earth,  for  the  angels  who  administer  God's 

[108] 


law  in  heaven."  "This,"  said  he,  to  the  graduating 
class  of  the  law  school  in  1873,  "is  the  true  ambi 
tion  of  the  lawyer:  to  obey  God  in  the  service  of 
society;  to  fulfill  His  law  in  the  order  of  society;  to 
promote  His  order  in  the  subordination  of  society 
to  its  own  law,  adopted  under  His  authority;  to  ad 
minister  to  His  justice  by  the  nearest  approach  to  it, 
under  the  municipal  law,  which  human  intelligence 
and  conscience  can  accomplish." 

He  brought  to  the  bench  this  spirit,  and  many 
judgments  of  this  court  have  been  radiant  with  its 
glory.  They  will  be  beacons  on  the  track  to  pilot 
generations  of  lawyers  to  come.  Let  the  hopeful 
enthusiasm  of  youth  look  upon  his  virtues,  and, 
shunning  his  imperfections,  strive  for  his  height  of 
learning  and  power.  Can  the  neophyte,  who  sees 
in  dreams  the  gleaming  splendor  of  professional 
grandeur,  but  attain  the  one  and  avoid  the  other,  he 
may  confidently  expect  the  highest  reward  to  which 
the  noble  profession  leads. 


|  109] 


ADDRESS  ON  AGRICULTURE 
1881 


ADDRESS  ON  AGRICULTURE 

AT  THE  ANNUAL  STATE  FAIR,  ROCHESTER,  MINNESOTA,  1881 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I  recognize  a  representative  assembly  of  the  far 
mers  of  the  most  magnificent  farm  on  earth;  whose 
wide  expanse  stretching  from  the  western  bank  of 
the  Father  of  Waters  receives  the  swift-running 
light  of  morning  in  glory  unbroken  until  the  Rocky 
Mountains  intercept  its  brilliant  race  for  day;  on 
whose  undulating  surface  the  oceans  pour,  through 
clouds  and  wind,  their  fertilizing  moisture;  whose 
broad  fields,  teeming  with  the  fatness  of  a  fecund 
soil,  can  satisfy  the  desire  for  bread  of  all  the  hungry 
children  of  men. 

Around  us  are  gathered  the  abundant  evidences 
of  your  material  prosperity.  The  glory  of  your 
fields,  the  bounty  of  your  dairies,  the  fruit  of  your 
trees  and  vines,  the  sweets  of  your  blossoms  lie  on 
the  well  spread  tables;  the  stalls  display  the  excel 
lent  blood  and  culture  of  your  flocks  and  herds;  on 
every  side  the  altars  of  the  fruitful  Pan  and  the 
bountiful  Ceres  are  redolent  with  the  incense  most 
pleasing  to  the  rural  gods. 

The  scene  suggests  the  theme  to  whom  you  choose 
for  your  spokesman.  It  is  most  natural  to  the  hour 
to  recall  those  distinctive  features  of  the  American 
farmer's  character  and  relations  to  men  which  have 

8  [  113  ] 


brought  him  to  the  "happy  state  and  condition7' 
here  represented. 

Demagogues  love  to  thrum  our  eardrums  with 
their  clamor  of  the  wrongs  the  agriculturist  suffers, 
and  stir  a  spirit  of  unrest.  Their  regular  outcries 
are  doubtless  proof  of  the  healthy  condition  of  our 
free  political  atmosphere;  but  sometimes  this  mark 
of  salubrity  seems  a  trifle  too  abundant.  Calm  wis 
dom,  with  a  broader  view,  superior  to  the  irritations 
of  the  passing  moment,  perceives  the  solid  founda 
tions  for  satisfaction  in  our  present  state,  and  sure 
hopes  for  a  steady  progress  with  advancing  years. 

Nor  shall  your  speaker  be  justly  charged  with 
optimism,  if  he  do  but  point  to  the  characteristics 
which  exalt  his  subject,  give  little  heed  to  the  queru 
lous  cavils  of  detractors. 

If  it  were  a  fault  it  should  be  pardoned  to  the  oc 
casion.  I  am  only  partly  willing  to  believe  that  all 
the  fruits  of  Minnesota  are  so  rich,  that  all  her  cat 
tle  are  so  sleek  and  fat,  as  the  exhibit  on  the  plat 
ters  over  here,  as  the  splendid  creatures  in  the  stalls 
yonder.  It  is  right  to  bring  out  the  best  to  the  fair. 

But  there  shall  be  no  such  fault.  There  is  the 
noblest  philosophy  in  that  contentment  which  rises 
on  a  wise  survey  of  great  results  accomplished,  and 
co-exists  with  a  high  purpose  to  make  enlightened 
progress  beyond.  It  is  in  that  spirit  of  confidence 
in  his  future  advancement  that  I  would  dwell  with 
pride  and  satisfaction  on  the  present  character  and 
attainments  of  our  typical  American  farmer. 

Yet  I  venture  the  essay  with  a  great  regret  that 
it  must  be  so  hurriedly  and  imperfectly  done  as  to 
be  but  a  hint  of  the  true  measure  of  the  subject. 

[114] 


The  farmer  of  America  is  a  vastly  different  being 
from  the  kind  who  has  for  ages  fretted  the  soil  of 
the  old  world.  Various  and  multiplied  are  these 
differences,  but  the  chief  of  all,  perhaps  the  pro 
ducer  of  most  of  them,  is  the  transformation  which 
has  come  over  his  relations  to  his  fellow  men.  He 
stands  forth,  first,  in  sharp  contrast  with  his  class 
in  other  lands,  in  the  origin  of  his  title  to,  and  the 
nature  of  his  possession  of,  the  soil  he  cultivates. 
He  entered  upon  his  fields  not  as  the  tenant  or 
villein  of  some  feudal  lord,  wearing  the  collar  of 
servitude  and  yielding  all  the  better  portion  of  his 
produce  in  return  for  protection  to  him  as  a  weak 
ling  laborer.  He  strode  at  the  outset  beyond  the 
pale  of  ancient  law  and  arbitrary  usages.  He  bore 
in  his  hands  the  arms  of  a  lord  of  the  forest,  the 
rifle  and  the  ax.  Self-reliant  and  self-dependent,  he 
took  from  nature  the  lease  of  his  estate,  rent  free 
and  bondage  free.  Not,  however,  free  of  cost  and 
without  price;  but  the  price  paid  was  the  price  man 
hood  loves  to  render  for  the  gains  which  do  it 
honor.  It  was  at  the  cost  of  that  labor  which  builds 
up  the  man;  with  privations  which  strengthen  rather 
than  enervate;  and  facing  perils  which  exalt  the 
soul.  With  every  trunk  he  lifted  to  its  place  in  the 
cabin  wall,  a  new  layer  of  strength  was  added  to  his 
character;  every  rood  of  ground  he  subdued  to  cul 
tivation  gave  new  breadth  to  his  views;  every  peril 
he  surmounted,  every  conflict  which  he  won,  refined 
and  sublimated  the  spirit  of  his  life.  And  when, 
after  such  discipline  of  labor  and  trial,  standing  by 
the  door  of  his  castle  of  logs,  he  heard  the  sound  of 

r  us  i 


the  contented  housewife  within  and  the  voices  of 
happy  children  round  about,  while  his  eyes  swept 
the  fruitful  possessions  he  had  wrought  from  the 
wilderness  to  their  sufficient  support  and  comfort, 
he  realized  the  individual  independence  of  free 
manhood,  and,  with  unopened  lips,  his  soul  joined 
in  the  great  hymn  of  liberty,  raising  a  strain  har 
monious  with  the  symphony  of  the  stars,  which 
heaven's  ear  might  hear. 

To  such  a  man,  those  who  wore  crowns  and  titles 
were  not  superior  in  the  elements  of  manhood;  and 
he  neither  so  acknowledged  them,  nor  feared  them. 
His  thought  exalted  him  to  their  level,  and  he  dealt 
with  them  in  spirit  as  their  equal.  His  domain  might 
not  be  so  large,  but  it  was  just  as  much  his  own. 
His  rights  and  powers  might  not  be  so  extensive, 
but  they  were  equally  as  sacred.  His  happiness  lay 
more  in  contentment  and  less  in  splendor,  but  his 
privilege  to  pursue  it  he  was  ready  to  defend  as  a 
king  his  kingdom.  So,  awarding  to  all  like  him  the 
rights  he  claimed,  he  found  in  his  union  with  his 
peers  and  co-workers  the  strength  and  ability  to  re 
sist  oppression,  which,  all  on  a  sudden,  manifested 
the  farm- workers  of  America  to  be  a  new  element 
in  the  world.  They  had  fought  in  the  forlorn  hope 
of  civilization,  and  had  carried  the  assault.  In  every 
added  hour  of  life  their  understandings,  newly  in 
formed,  came  more  clearly  to  see  that  the  civiliza 
tion  whose  banners  they  had  carried  in  the  front  was 
not  that  of  the  old  world  institutions  of  feudal  lord 
and  tenant,  of  master  and  slave;  but  that  the  abodes 
they  had  wrought  were  the  homesteads  of  freedom 
and  independence. 

[116] 


To  such  men,  the  hour  of  labor  was  not  an  hour 
of  sodden  toil,  whose  burden  was  borne  as  the  laden 
ass  carried  his  pack;  nor  the  hour  of  repose  a  period 
of  brutish  rest.  They  loved  to  pursue  high  medita 
tions,  and  the  problems  of  life,  the  rights  of  men, 
the  methods  of  social  order  and  happiness,  were  ex 
cogitated  and  understood.  They  were  not  the  men 
to  bear  unlawful  exaction,  though  a  king  and  parlia 
ment  put  it  on  them;  their  manly  pride  resented  the 
arrogance  of  power  and  the  insolence  of  office;  and 
they  taught  the  aristocrats  of  England — who  saw 
with  mere  scorn  the  rebellion  of  peasants — that  they 
were  not  peasants  who  tilled  the  new  world.  The 
continental  armies  of  the  Eevolution  were  filled  and 
sustained  by  the  farmers  of  America,  and  the  men 
who  had  set  up  their  household  gods  in  the  clearings 
of  the  forest  maintained  in  every  hour  of  trial  the 
spirit  sprung  from  the  teaching  of  their  labor,  and 
the  discipline  of  their  dangers.  They  appeared 
foremost  in  every  assembly,  whether  for  delibera 
tion  or  for  war.  They  manifested  in  various  emer 
gencies  every  noble  gift  of  intellect  and  soul  which 
the  great  object  demanded. 

From  the  broad  acres  of  Mount  Vernon  came  the 
loftiest  soul  of  history,  to  lead  to  victory  the  armies 
of  Liberty  and  establish  her  foundations  secure  for 
ever.  That  defiant  declaration — the  pillar  of  cloud 
by  day,  of  fire  by  night,  before  the  hosts  of  freedom 
in  their  long  years  of  trial — sprung  from  the  in 
spired  brain  of  the  farmer  of  Monticello.  It  was 
farmer  Putnam  who  dropped  with  eager  joy  the 
plow  in  the  furrow  to  fight  in  his  shirt  sleeves  the 

[117] 


richly  uniformed  veterans  of  England,  and  roll  them 
in  blood  down  the  slopes  of  Bunker  Hill.  Heaven 
gave  to  the  farmer  boys  of  the  Hudson  that  incor 
ruptible  patriotism  which  defied  the  seduction  of 
riches  to  deliver  the  nation  in  peril  from  the  most 
successful  treason  of  Arnold. 

Oh,  farmers  of  America!  The  story  of  the  plant 
ing  of  your  race  is  glorious!  A  new  career  was 
opened  then  for  the  tiller  of  the  soil!  Poets  and 
philosophers  have  ever  made  honor  of  agriculture. 
But  their  honor  was  for  the  great  nobles  and  wealthy 
owners,  their  patrons,  who  toiled  not,  yet  reaped 
where  others  wrought.  'Twas  but  "to  heap  the 
shrine  of  luxury  and  pride  with  incense  kindled  at 
the  Muse's  flame."  The  real  farmer,  the  laborer  for 
their  glory,  shared  neither  profits  nor  glory.  A  hun 
dred  years  ago  that  order  was  changed  forever  in 
the  new  world.  Great  as  was  the  farmer's  part  in 
the  achievements  of  that  era,  not  less  has  been  his 
share  of  their  beneficent  results. 

From  that  time  dominion  of  the  soil  has  been  his; 
and  his  tenure  made  secure.  His  labor  has  yielded 
its  return  to  his  own  hands;  to  him  his  seed  has 
borne  its  increase. 

No  steward  descends  upon  his  harvest  fields  to 
sweep  the  profits  into  the  granary  of  his  lord.  No 
tithe-collector  snatches  for  the  dignitaries  of  the 
church  what  the  landlord  has  spared.  He  may  lift 
his  prayers  direct  to  the  God  of  nature;  and  the 
bounty  with  which  nature  blesses  his  seed  is  all  his 
own. 

But  not  alone  in  the  riches  of  his  tillage  has  he 
realized  the  benefits  of  independence.  Better  ad- 

[118] 


vancement  still  has  been  his  in  the  social  and  politi 
cal  relations  he  enjoys.  With  ownership  of  the  soil 
has  come  that  equality  of  caste  which  belongs  to 
dominion.  There  is  no  lord  or  master  above  him. 
There  is  no  rank  or  grade  of  social  life  which  is  his 
superior.  I  speak  it  with  the  full  meaning  of  the 
words  employed,  and  affirm  again,  that  beyond  the 
farmer  there  is  no  business,  no  avocation,  no  grade 
of  social  life,  and  no  higher  class  of  men  in  the 
states  of  America. 

It  is  not  meant  that  all  farmers  reach  the  full 
plane  of  their  class.  In  the  providence  of  God,  there 
has  been  ordained  an  infinite  variety  of  intellect, 
character,  and  capability  among  men.  "One  star 
differeth  from  another  star  in  glory. "  Farmers  are 
precisely  as  other  men.  They  are  not  and  cannot  all 
be  equal;  neither  in  strength  of  muscle  or  fibre  of 
brain.  Among  them,  as  with  others,  the  gradations 
of  intellect  and  power  are  almost  infinite.  Their 
achievements  must  vary  accordingly.  No  laws  of 
men,  no  institutions  of  society,  can  alter  their  ordi 
nation  of  heaven.  All  that  laws  and  constitutions, 
all  that  social  opinions  and  usages  can  do,  is  to  open 
the  road,  with  equal  access  to  all.  This  the  farmers 
of  America  have  accomplished  for  their  class.  The 
way  is  open.  Many  have  already  traveled  it.  They 
are  examples  to  the  race. 

Do  any  doubt  their  social  rank?  Look  about  you 
here  in  Minnesota!  Cannot  you,  any  one  here  pres 
ent,  name  at  once,  within  your  borders,  numerous 
farmers,  the  social  equals  of  the  best  in  your  com 
monwealth?  I  am  but  a  stranger,  yet  am  confident 

[119] 


to  challenge  the  test.  On  the  fields  of  your  neigh 
boring  Wisconsin,  I  claim  the  honor  of  friendship 
with  scores  who  are  the  social  and  intellectual  equals 
of  the  highest  of  other  classes.  In  some,  I  know  a 
pride  of  manhood  and  a  degree  of  power,  riches  of 
intellect  and  integrity  of  character,  which  are  the 
honor  and  adornment  of  humanity.  Nor  is  the  far 
mer's  place  less,  or  less  important  in  political  circles. 
His  voice  has  ever  been  potent — his  influence  com 
manding  in  all  affairs  of  state  and  nation.  It  could 
not  be  otherwise  under  the  constitution  of  our  politi 
cal  society.  Where  the  majority  of  votes  appoints 
the  holders  of  every  public  trust,  the  wielders  of 
that  sceptre  of  power  must  hold  a  sovereign  influ 
ence.  The  farmer's  class  outnumbers  any  other; 
and,  when  you  add  those  immediately  dependent  on 
it,  perhaps  all  others.  It  is  the  great  substratum  and 
foundation  rank  of  the  republic.  The  farmer  holds 
his  place  in  every  governing  board  and  through  all 
gradations  of  office,  in  town,  county,  state,  and  na 
tion.  In  most  of  the  administrative  subdivisions  of 
government  he  is  nearly  supreme.  Town  and  county 
boards  are  almost  wholly  controlled  by  him,  and 
in  every  legislature  his  representatives  outnumber 
those  of  any  other  order. 

And,  let  it  be  remembered,  these  are  the  bodies 
which  mainly  rule  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of  the 
people  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.  Places  of  na 
tional  trust  have  more  of  splendor  and  honor  in  ap 
pearance,  as  the  scope  of  their  authority  is  more 
extended. 

But  except  in  extraordinary  emergencies  their 
influence  and  effect  on  the  business  conditions  and 

[120] 


affairs  of  our  citizens  is  far  less.  Two-thirds  of  our 
taxes  are  expended  by  our  counties,  towns,  and  local 
bodies.  Substantially  all  our  laws  which  define  and 
sustain  the  rights  of  property  and  persons,  which  ad 
just  the  social  and  domestic  relations,  which  secure 
our  peace,  our  liberty,  our  happiness,  are  of  state  au 
thority  alone.  In  national  affairs,  moreover,  the 
farmer  has  always  enjoyed  a  large,  if  not  a  full 
share.  Presidents,  senators,  and  representatives 
have  been  often  called  from  the  farm,  and  oftener 
still  from  among  the  farmer 's  boys.  I  cannot  dwell 
to  recapitulate  the  proofs.  Eecall  to  mind  the  illus 
trious  men  who  have  honored  our  land,  and  you  will 
name  a  majority  who  sprung  from  the  farm.  To 
sum  it,  to  agriculture  in  America  have  been  paid  the 
genuine  honors,  which  in  other  countries  have  but 
been  sung  to  it.  Our  constitution,  laws,  and  usages 
have  opened  wide  the  door  to  all  to  achieve  whatever 
nature  has  given  ability  to  attain.  The  farmer  has 
been  exalted  to  dominion  of  the  soil,  to  social  rank 
and  political  power  equal  to  that  of  any  other  class 
or  order. 

Let  any  who  would  justly  measure  his  great 
advancement  and  present  condition  cast  his  eye 
abroad!  Let  him  read  the  history  of  rural  labor, 
and  view  it  as  it  is  in  other  countries.  Where  is  the 
land  under  the  sun  in  which  the  tiller  of  the  soil  has 
so  maintained  himself  against  the  greed  and  craft 
of  men?  Look  to  Great  Britain.  There,  among  more 
than  thirty  million,  ownership  of  lands  is  absorbed 
by  a  few  thousand,  whose  hands  put  no  touch  of 
labor  to  increase  its  product,  but  with  relentless 

[121] 


greed  draw  from  the  toilers  on  the  fields  the  better 
portion  in  rents,  by  which  alone  can  labor  be  allowed 
the  privilege  to  earn  subsistence.  The  farmer  there 
must  be  a  rent-payer;  he  can  have  no  title  but  a  lease. 
The  farm  laborer  must  be  a  hind;  he  is  fed  and 
sheltered.  The  father  of  one  can  have  no  inheritance 
but  a  rent  charge;  of  the  other,  but  the  patrimony 
of  the  beasts  of  burden.  The  church  shares  the 
benefit  and  lends  to  this  the  sanction  of  her  spiritual 
authority.  Feudalism  is  gone,  indeed,  but  it  is  not 
yet  for  Englishmen  to  own  the  lands  they  till,  nor 
enjoy  "the  kindly  fruits  of  the  earth/'  which  their 
hands  gather  from  seed  they  sow — except  in  the 
litany. 

Or  consider  the  melancholy  state  of  poor  Ire 
land!  There  sit  Irishmen,  poverty-bound  to  the 
spot,  whose  fathers  were  robbed  of  title  to  the  rich 
vales  and  fertile  meadows  of  that  bright  and  beau 
tiful  isle.  They  still  plant  the  seed  upon  its  surface; 
they  nurse  its  growth;  from  early  morn  to  dewy  eve 
they  ply  the  implements  of  husbandry  to  nourish  its 
increase;  their  eyes  linger  on  the  rich  products  which 
nature's  lavish  bounty  abundantly  bestows  to  their 
labor;  themselves  reaping  the  plentiful  harvest,  they 
must  bear  it  to  their  master's  ships  to  furnish  out  a 
replete  luxury  in  a  foreign  land;  and  then  return  to 
the  miserable  cabin  to  hear  their  children  cry  for 
bread.  Again  and  again  the  world  has  heard  and 
pitied  the  wail  of  famished  Ireland.  Yet  in  every 
year  when  famine  has  swung  the  scythe  of  death 
among  the  toilers  of  that  land,  the  lavish  bounty  of 
nature  sacrificed  to  pampered  greed  has  been  abun- 

[122] 


dant  to  have  fed  every  Irishman,  every  starving  wife 
and  child.  Ships  laden  with  the  succor  of  humanity 
met  in  their  ports  others  bearing  off  the  plenty  of 
Irish  fields. 

For  there,  with  all  their  cries  of  hunger,  generous 
nature  never  failed  of  enough  for  Irishmen;  she  has 
only  refused  to  satiate  the  avarice  of  the  foreign 
land-holder. 

Let  him  who  repines  in  unreasoning  discontent 
in  this  happy  land,  but  stop  to  think  how,  within  a 
few  months,  the  Irish  husbandman  has  been  forced 
to  see  the  flesh  dry  up,  the  bones  protrude,  and  the 
eyes  sink  back  in  the  starving  faces  of  his  wife  and 
babes,  in  his  own  beautiful  and  bountiful  Ireland! 

A  more  extended  survey  must  still  further  en 
hance  our  comparative  satisfaction.  The  master  of 
the  National  Grange  recently  illustrated  the  social 
condition  of  the  farmers  of  republican  France  by  a 
significant  anecdote  of  his  own  experience.  He 
dined,  on  a  recent  visit  there,  with  a  farmer  of  repu 
tation,  a  model  of  his  class.  The  rich  repast  with 
which  he  was  able  to  regale  the  distinguished  com 
missioner  of  agriculture  from  the  United  States  con 
sisted  of  soup  and  then  stewed  rabbits!  Afterwards 
some  lettuce,  "to  take  the  taste  out"  of  his  mouth. 
A  few  days  later  the  compliment  was  returned  by 
invitation  of  the  farmer  to  the  hotel;  and  lo!  the 
manager  wouldn  't  let  him  sit  at  the  table  with  ladies 
and  gentlemen!  With  all  their  bluster,  the  French 
man's  liberty  savors  yet  too  much  of  royal  garlic! 

It  must  suffice  to  close  this  hasty  view,  to  point  to 
one  ample  proof,  embracing  all.  Stand  for  a  week 

[123] 


at  Castle  Garden!  Behold  descend  from  the  great 
ships  the  thousands  who  have  tempted  the  long  and 
dreary  waste  of  seas,  mingling  all  the  tongues  of 
Europe,  join  the  great  throng  to  claim  the  happy 
homes  and  free  air  of  America ! 

The  conditions  I  have  thus  reviewed  I  rank  of 
the  greatest  value,  the  highest  in  the  farmer's  honor. 
They  go  to  his  nobility  of  character,  the  exaltation 
ofi  his  manhood.  They  are  the  mainspring  of  all  his 
advancement,  the  real  source  of  his  prosperity. 
Their  influence  and  effect  have  been  prodigious  for 
his  welfare.  The  material  prosperity  which  has  fol 
lowed  to  their  lead  is  marvelous  to  contemplate,  even 
in  this  age  of  marvels.  The  American  farmer  is  as 
cending  to  be,  has  almost  now  become,  the  supplier 
of  the  world.  His  cotton  and  sugar,  his  grains  and 
corn,  his  butter  and  cheese,  even  his  fresh  meats, 
pour  with  magnificent  currents  into  the  markets  of 
the  old  world,  returning  "golden  showers  of  com 
pensation."  I  shall  not  enter  on  the  statistician's 
office,  to  amplify  the  splendid  theme.  I  beg  to  turn 
the  view  to  other  results  of  these  primal  causes, 
which  are  themselves  contributory  causes  of  this 
prosperity,  and  merit  an  especial  attention.  Among 
these  is  the  peculiar  advantage  derived  from  the  va 
riety  and  usefulness  of  labor-saving  machinery. 
Here  is  a  notable  result  and  proof  of  value  of  the 
leading  conditions  already  considered.  The  rents 
which  the  land  tenants  of  other  nations  have  con 
tributed  to  the  luxury  of  landlords,  our  farmers  have 
accumulated  for  themselves.  Thus  they  have  be 
come  able  to  be  liberal  purchasers,  and  have  focused 

[124] 


the  thought  of  inventors  and  manufacturers  on  the 
necessities  of  the  farm  and  the  amelioration  of  their 
labor.  No  other  land  possesses  implements  in  aid  of 
husbandry  comparable  to  ours  in  extent  and  value. 
The  agricultural  operations  of  the  old  world  have 
been  mainly  conducted  by  the  laboring  hand  of  man. 
The  farm  laborer  and  the  ox  have  plodded  in  the 
yoke,  day  by  day,  together.  The  old  methods,  the 
old  tools,  in  the  rude  simplicity  of  generations  long 
gone,  still  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  peasantry 
there.  We  read  occasionally,  indeed,  of  some  noble 
lord  or  rich  landholder  who  has  pleased  his  leisure 
by  introducing  some  new-invented  implement  to  his 
fields.  Among  the  toiling  masses  labor-saving  ma 
chinery  is  little  known.  In  truth,  it  is  only  where 
institutions  of  liberty  develop  and  uplift  the  indi 
vidual  to  intelligence  and  ability  to  demand  aid  for 
himself  that  such  amelioration  comes.  It  is  rarely 
furnished  to  the  general,  by  the  consideration  of 
the  higher  few. 

It  has  been  the  enterprise  of  our  manufacturers, 
which  has  shown  the  startled  laborer  on  European 
field  that  ingenious  mechanism  which  sweeps  down 
the  waving  grain  by  acres,  binding  it  in  convenient 
sheaves,  while  the  ruler  of  the  harvest  rides  tri 
umphant  over  the  scene.  This  honor  truly  belongs 
to  the  American  farmer.  He  begot  the  American 
manufacturer.  It  is,  in  real  fact,  his  moving  influ 
ence  and  power  which  have  put  on  the  fields  of  Eus- 
sia  and  the  plains  of  Australia  the  harvester  and  the 
mower  of  America. 

In  this  country  the  progress  of  the  last  generation 
has  revolutionized  the  whole  business  of  agricul- 

[125] 


ture.  It  has  introduced  new  forms  and  processes 
with  new  implements,  and  vastly  enlarged  the  scope 
and  extent  of  the  pursuit.  Eecall  to  mind  the  farmer 
of  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago.  Behold  him  in  his  har 
vest  season.  He  hurries  through  the  neighborhood 
to  collect  labor  for  the  task.  His  forces  gathered, 
each  weaponed  with  a  crooked  sickle,  they  attack 
the  field  of  but  a  few  acres  as  the  great  undertaking 
of  the  year.  The  lark  is  startled  by  their  early  call, 
who  must  save  every  hour  of  light.  They  gather  in 
the  hand  the  berry-laden  stalks,  then  sever  them 
with  the  knife,  and  tenderly  lay  them  down.  Inch 
by  inch  they  crawl  slowly  on.  Day  after  day  the 
back-breaking  toil  advances  before  the  field  is  won. 
Then  the  heavy  wain,  urged  by  the  patient  oxen, 
creeps  painfully  to  the  barn,  where  the  sheaves  are 
laid  at  rest.  By  and  by,  amid  winter  winds,  for 
weary  days,  the  farmer  flings  the  heavy  flail  to  fill 
the  moderate  bin.  Seize  such  a  one  in  your  fancy, 
advance  the  years  by  sudden  turn  upon  him,  to  look 
on  your  broad  waving  fields,  rich  with  the  world's 
supply!  Invite  him  to  a  ride  on  your  harvester, 
while  you  toss  off  by  the  acre  the  well  bound  bun 
dles!  Then  go  with  him  to  the  thresher,  whose  de 
vouring  mouth  swallows  the  sheaves  as  the  big  stack 
falls,  while  at  the  spout  the  rapid  stream  of  golden 
berries  runs!  Could  he  believe  you  to  be  the  child 
of  his  loins,  not  in  league  with  some  genius  of  the 
fairy  world?  Or,  bid  him  drop  the  hoe  in  the  old 
cornfield,  hung  with  strings  and  streamers  and 
guarded  by  the  bogus  sentry  against  the  crows,  and 
by  sudden  transformation  seat  him  on  the  sulky 

[126] 


corn  plow,  to  stir  the  earth  with  rapid  step  on  your 
broad  acres!  Would  he  not  laugh  to  hear  you  call 
that  working  in  the  corn!  Such  and  so  many  are  the 
devices  which  have  relieved  the  man  and  woman 
from  the  drudgery  of  the  farm  that  the  imagination 
can  hardly  pause  in  the  forecast  of  the  future.  They 
begin  with  the  farmer's  plowing,  they  attend  him  in 
seed  time,  in  cultivation,  in  the  gathering  of  crops, 
in  their  storage,  their  reduction,  even  to  the  hour  of 
marketing.  They  have  lifted  the  husbandman  be 
yond  the  level  of  mere  toil.  The  farm  is  already  a 
manufactory.  Its  labor  is  applied  through  ingenious 
mechanism  with  intelligent  skill.  Its  laborers  are 
mechanics.  Its  operations  hum  with  the  music  of 
civilization.  The  ox  and  the  ass  have  lost  their 
character  as  beasts  of  burden.  Steam  has  expelled 
them  from  the  fields,  and  works  in  the  farmer 's  yoke. 
Who  forbids  that  electricity  shall  next  become  a 
farm  servant,  and  leave  the  noble  horse  but  for  the 
enjoyment  of  the  highway  and  the  track? 

But  the  enormous  producing  power  which  these 
implements  of  husbandry  have  developed  would 
have  been  no  blessing,  perhaps  a  curse,  had  inven 
tion  ceased  with  them.  The  mill  wheel  cannot  run 
unless  the  tail  race  delivers  the  flood  which  grants 
it  power.  It  were  folly  to  multiply  production,  if 
the  product  do  but  accumulate  in  hand.  Coals  are 
little  worth  to  Newcastle  for  use,  nor  wheat  to  Min 
nesota.  So  heaven  filled  the  inventor's  brain  with 
other  cunning  to  meet  the  farmer's  need.  The  won 
derful  highway  of  iron  was  bestowed  in  time.  It  is, 
also,  the  farmer's  debtor;  at  least  developed  by  his 

[127] 


demands.  Without  him,  it  would  be  of  compara 
tively  small  extent  and  value.  Without  its  aid, 
where  would  be  the  farmer  of  the  west! 

Before  railroads  were  devised,  there  was  no  ex 
tensive  freight  communication  but  by  water.  And 
that  was  valueless  unless  conveniently  accessible. 
From  this,  the  agriculture  of  past  ages  gathered 
around  the  seas  and  lakes,  or  lined  the  river 's  mar 
gin.  It  girt  the  Mediterranean  and  made  famous  the 
valley  of  the  Nile.  The  unwatered  world  of  the  in 
terior  was  left  to  the  wandering  nomad  or  the  for 
est  barbarian.  It  was  the  unknown  region  full  of 
mysterious  terrors.  The  great  Hercynian  wood  was 
the  home  of  beasts,  brute  and  human;  the  latter  ever 
the  impending  peril,  and  finally  the  destroyer  of  the 
civilization  of  the  world.  The  reserve  corps  of  bar 
barism  lay  back  on  the  plains  of  Russia  and  Tartary, 
which  nourished  the  fierce  savages  who  could  live 
on  equine  flesh  and  carouse  on  the  milk  of  mares. 
So,  too,  water  communication  was  slow  and  tedious, 
even  when  accessible.  That  is  true,  especially  of 
inland  navigation.  It  is  weeks  by  water  from  St. 
Paul  to  New  York,  though  the  aid  of  steam  be  in 
voked;  and  in  northern  climes  that  avenue  is  avail 
able  for  but  half  the  year.  Your  magnificent  wheat 
fields  would  mostly  lie  unbroken,  farmers  of  Minne 
sota,  had  not  the  invention  and  enterprise  of  other 
men,  stimulated  by  your  demands,  laid  the  double 
lined  highway  to  carry  the  freight  car,  laden  with 
your  precious  berry,  to  the  sea;  the  Indian  would 
still  be  master  of  the  territories  of  the  west.  Your 
lands  derive  their  value,  your  industry  its  reward, 

r  128  ] 


your  homes  the  luxuries  and  many  of  the  comforts 
they  exhibit,  from  the  well-abused  railroads  of  the 
continent. 

In  the  beautiful  language  of  that  noble  lover  of 
human  liberty,  once  the  pride  and  ornament  of  Wis 
consin 's  supreme  bench,  the  lamented  Byron  Paine, 
"Railroads  are  the  great  public  highways  of  the 
world,  along  which  its  gigantic  currents  of  trade 
and  travel  continually  pour — highways  compared 
with  which  the  most  magnificent  highways  of  an 
tiquity  dwindle  into  insignificance.  They  are  the 
most  marvelous  invention  of  modern  times.  They 
have  done  more  to  develop  the  wealth  and  resources, 
to  stimulate  the  industry,  reward  the  labor  and  pro 
mote  the  general  comfort  and  prosperity  of  the  coun 
try,  than  any  other,  perhaps  than  all  other  mere 
physical  causes  combined.  There  is  probably  not  a 
man,  woman  or  child,  whose  interest  or  comfort  has 
not  been  in  some  degree  subserved  by  them.  They 
bring  to  our  doors  the  productions  of  the  earth. 
They  enable  us  to  anticipate  and  protract  the  sea 
sons.  They  enable  the  inhabitants  of  each  clime  to 
enjoy  the  pleasures  and  luxuries  of  all.  They  scat 
ter  the  productions  of  the  press  and  literature  broad 
cast  through  the  country  with  amazing  rapidity. 
There  is  scarcely  a  want,  wish  or  aspiration  of  the 
human  heart  which  they  do  not  in  some  measure 
help  to  gratify.  They  promote  the  pleasures  of 
social  life  and  of  friendship;  they  bring  the  skilled 
physician  swiftly  from  a  distance  to  attend  the  sick 
and  the  wounded,  and  enable  the  absent  friend  to  be 
present  at  the  bedside  of  the  dying.  They  have  more 

9  [  129  ] 


than  realized  the  fabulous  conception  of  the  eastern 
imagination,  which  pictured  the  genii  as  transport 
ing  inhabited  palaces  through  the  air.  They  take  a 
train  of  inhabited  palaces  from  the  Atlantic  coast, 
and,  with  a  marvelous  swiftness,  deposit  it  on  the 
shores  that  are  washed  by  the  Pacific  seas.  In  war, 
they  transport  the  armies  and  supplies  of  the  gov 
ernment  with  the  greatest  celerity,  and  carry  for 
ward,  as  it  were,  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  relief 
and  comfort  to  those  who  are  stretched  bleeding  and 
wounded  on  the  field  of  battle." 

But  while  we  do  them  justice,  let  us  not  forget 
there  are  doubtless  many  faults  to  be  corrected  and 
abuses  to  be  reformed  in  the  administration  of  these 
highways.  Corporate  powers  and  corporate  values 
have  advanced  with  a  more  rapid  step  than  the  in 
vention  of  our  statesmen  and  law-makers.  The 
agency  of  the  corporation  is  comparatively  modern, 
and,  like  the  agency  of  steam,  is  a  mighty  power. 
Unless  subdued  by  proper  appliances  of  law  suffi 
cient  to  control  it,  we  are  liable  to  disasters  injurious 
to  our  welfare,  as  the  accidents  which  sometimes  be 
fall  the  train  are  destructive  of  life. 

But  I  must  not  protract  this  weary  hour  to  discuss 
this  problem  foreign  to  my  subject.  Important  as  it 
is,  we  need  not  fear  it.  The  railroad,  rightly  used, 
is  the  friend  of  the  farmer  and  the  whole  people.  It 
is  the  paramount  interest  of  its  owners  that  it  should 
so  remain.  They  dare  not  make  it  an  enemy,  and 
when  we  reflect  that  a  single  invention — the  steel 
rail — has  reduced  the  freight  tariff  forty  per  centum, 
we  may  trust  somewhat  to  time  and  genius  to  relieve 

[130] 


the  inconveniences,  and  continue  to  enjoy  its  bless 
ings  with  composure.  All  these  considerations  mul 
tiply  the  necessity  for  the  high  education  of  farmers. 
The  avocation  has  ever  been  one  affording  oppor 
tunity  for  meditation;  and  the  higher  types  of  man 
hood,  broad  thought  and  well  fixed  convictions  have 
ever  marked  our  American  agriculturists.  Yet  the 
world  has  not  been  accustomed  to  admit  the  neces 
sity  of  much  education  for  the  farmer's  business.  It 
can  no  longer  be  so  regarded.  The  steady  progress 
which  the  noble  calling  has  made  in  methods  and 
scope,  has  placed  it  fairly  on  a  par  with  any  other, 
in  advance  of  many  others,  in  the  need  of  a  broad 
mental  cultivation  and  general  information.  It  is 
still  possible  for  the  clumsy  and  brainless  lout  who 
works  without  appreciation  and  intelligence  to  gain 
subsistence  from  the  bounty  of  nature.  She  is  too 
lavish  of  her  abundance  to  suffer  even  the  block 
head  to  go  unfed.  But  such  is  not  the  farmer  of  this 
country,  though  sometimes  found  in  his  company. 

The  true  farmer  is  far  more  exalted.  He  is  capable 
of  great  things.  He  brings  science  to  his  aid.  He 
studies  the  laws  of  nature,  manifested  in  the  subtle 
essences  of  the  soil,  the  organization  and  growth 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  even  meteorological 
changes.  He  reaches  out  his  inquiries  over  all  the 
earth,  seeking  better  plants  and  foods,  improved 
breeds  of  animals,  more  enlightened  processes.  No 
business  pursued  by  man  opens  more  far-reaching 
avenues  of  research,  because,  being  everywhere  in 
some  form  pursued,  subjects  of  inquiry  multiply 
with  every  country. 

[131] 


So,  on  the  other  hand,  the  great  facilities  for  in 
terchange  have  made  the  world  the  farmer's  market. 
You  do  not  sell  your  grain  to  the  wheat  buyer  at -the 
station  where  you  deliver  it.  He  is  a  mere  factor. 
He  fixes  no  price  on  your  commodity.  That  is  done 
by  his  masters  in  Liverpool;  and  they,  in  turn,  are 
but  the  barometer  of  the  world's  appetite. 

When  the  children  of  men  grow  hungry,  the  golden 
kernels  grow  more  golden,  by  some  cents  to  the 
bushel.  When  they  are  fed  you  must  sell  for  less, 
or  wait  till  they  are  hungry  again. 

So,  substantially,  with  your  corn,  your  butter  and 
cheese,  your  fat  cattle,  and  all  your  money-bringing 
products,  except  that  with  them  the  varying  mar 
kets  add  to  the  demands  on  the  farmer's  intelli 
gence.  For,  to  skillfully  conduct  his  negotiations,  to 
understand  the  instructions  of  the  world  to  its 
agent  at  the  station  in  respect  to  price,  to  regulate 
with  wise  forecast  the  production  of  profitable 
crops,  the  farmer  must  be  acquainted  with  the  busi 
ness  of  the  world.  He  must  be  a  reading  man,  of 
quick  perception  and  comprehensive  judgment. 

The  farmer's  newspaper  has  been  and  continues 
his  efficient  and  valuable  coadjutor.  It,  too,  has  been 
the  product  and  kept  pace  with  the  development  of 
the  age.  Many  of  them  rival  the  best  general  sheets 
in  industry  and  value,  and  deserve  the  highest  credit 
for  their  work.  But  the  aggressive  spirit  born  of 
the  farmer's  liberty  and  power  has  wrought  a  new 
institution,  the  agricultural  college.  This,  too,  may 
fairly  be  classed  as  a  laurel  in  the  chaplet  of  the 
American  farmer.  The  refinement  and  value  of 

[  132  ] 


studies,  the  world  has  never  failed  to  acknowledge, 
but  until  modern  times  has  regarded  them  almost 
exclusively  the  portion  of  the  so-called  learned  pro 
fessions.  That  the  hand  of  labor  should  be  guided 
by  the  intelligence  of  science,  and  the  workman's 
brain  refined  by  the  discipline  of  study,  the  world 
denied  until  the  principles  of  America  taught  the 
practical  equality  of  humanity.  Schools  were  for 
the  priest  to  pore  over  the  myriad  tomes  of  religious 
controversy;  for  the  lawyer  to  search  the  refine 
ments  of  jurisprudence  through  "many  a  volume  of 
forgotten  lore;"  for  the  doctor  to  trace  back  the 
story  of  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  and  learn  the 
prescriptions  of  Esculapius  and  his  following  line; 
for  the  scholar  and  the  antiquary  to  hunt  the 
changes  in  human  speech,  and  read  the  history  of 
dynasties  and  wars. 

But  a  great  change  has  come  upon  our  institutions 
of  learning.  We  do  not  deny  the  value  of  the  old, 
but  we  realize  the  no  less  value  of  the  new.  These 
schools  are  yet  but  beginning,  their  power  undevel 
oped.  Their  future  is  full  of  promise.  The  time 
shall  come,  and  that  I  hope  not  long  hence,  when, 
to  rise  in  his  calling,  the  man  who  labors  with  the 
hand  must  have  a  well-trained  and  well-filled  brain, 
as  well  as  he  who  works  by  the  pen;  when  the  far 
mer's  boy  shall  learn  that  science  which  discloses 
the  laws  of  the  soil,  as  well  as  to  handle  the  plow 
which  breaks  it;  which  teaches  the  germination  and 
growth  of  the  grain,  as  well  as  to  drive  the  reaper 
which  cuts  it.  But  the  farmer's  education  must  go 
beyond  his  business.  In  his  hands  repose  the  prog- 

[133] 


ress  and  security  of  our  institutions  of  liberty.  All 
good  citizens  should  be  so  informed,  so  upright  and 
so  wise,  as  rightly  to  discharge  their  high  duties  in 
this  respect  to  their  fellow  men  and  future  ages.  But 
I  think  the  duty  rests  with  peculiar  weight  on  the 
farmer,  and  that  it  should  be  his  highest  pride  to  so 
regard  it.  First,  because  his  class  holds  a  greater 
share  than  any  other  of  political  power.  He  is  there 
fore  bound  to  rise  beyond  it  to  care  for  the  state,  or 
his  race,  and  for  posterity  with  a  broad  and  manly 
philanthropy.  And  again,  because  his  history  and 
traditions  demand  it.  The  political  wisdom  which 
wrought  our  free  institutions  has  ever  been  in  pos 
session  of  those  who  till  the  soil.  There  be  many 
who  fear  the  perpetuity  and  safety  of  our  nation, 
because  its  increase  of  population  and  wealth  dimin 
ish  the  influence  of  the  rural  classes.  There  is  some 
thing  about  the  open  communion  with  nature  which 
has  always  raised  the  loftiest  spirits  among  men  to 
profound  reflection.  It  has  been  the  purifier  of  the 
soul,  restoring  the  strength  of  convictions  and  up 
right  purposes.  The  possession  of  the  broad  acres, 
when  nature,  with  recurring  seasons,  unfailingly  be 
stows  her  bounty  to  man,  enlarges  the  currents  of 
the  soul.  He  has,  indeed,  a  sodden  brain,  who  is  not 
stirred  to  high  purposes  and  a  broad  philanthropy  in 
witnessing  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  with  which 
heaven  informs  the  face  of  earth. 

And  where  is  the  man  with  a  heart  big  enough  to 
love  his  fellow  men,  who  can  survey  the  magnificent 
territory  of  this  Union,  the  millions  multiplying  on 
it,  the  unexampled  prosperity  and  happiness  which 

[134] 


they  enjoy  under  our  constitution,  and  yet  reflect  on 
the  history  of  past  ages  without  poignant  anxiety 
for  the  security  and  perpetuation  of  these  blessings 
to  posterity?  How  anxiously  does  he  turn  his  eye 
over  the  wide  expanse,  seeking  a  safe  anchorage  for 
his  ardent  hope.  To  what  special  rank  or  class  can 
he  turn  with  a  better  reliance  than  to  the  owners  and 
tillers  of  the  republic's  wide  domain?  Eemoved 
from  the  cankering  vices  of  the  cities,  the  false  lux 
ury,  the  feverish  chase  for  riches,  the  absorbing 
struggle  for  ephemeral  ends,  what  offers  such  repose 
to  hope  as  the  rural  homes?  The  altar  and  hearth 
stones  of  our  American  farmsides  are  sacred  places. 
They  have  been  the  nurseries  of  the  great  men  and 
great  women  of  this  country.  In  them  have  been 
laid  the  foundations  of  that  purity,  patriotism,  and 
power,  which  have  been  the  glory  of  our  public  men. 
To  these  calm  retreats  our  wisest  and  strongest  have 
ever  loved  to  retire,  to  shake  off  the  vicious  influ 
ences  of  crowded  centres,  to  restore  the  brain,  to 
purify  the  heart,  and  invigorate  the  soul.  There  the 
sweetest  pleasures  of  life  have  been  found.  There 
they  have  found  rest  and  peace,  when  the  storms  of 
life  have  exhausted  them  with  turbulence.  And 
there  they  have  gone  to  die.  From  the  farmside 
came  Washington  to  draw  the  sword  for  man,  and  to 
it  he  withdrew  with  joyful  contentment  when  the 
great  victory  was  won.  Thence  he  came  again  to 
take  the  helm  when  our  national  voyage  began,  and 
there  again  retired  when  his  high  duty  was  done. 
And  there  he  died !  How  holy  is  that  soil  of  Mount 
Vernon!  How  wishfully  did  Webster,  the  great  ex- 

[135] 


pounder  of  the  constitution,  ever  turn  his  weary  eye, 
in  the  meridian  splendor  of  fame,  to  his  sweet  farm 
home  of  Marshfield!  What  moving  pathos  in  that 
latest  view  of  his  life,  when  after  a  night  of  pain,  he 
caused  his  herd  of  oxen  to  be  driven  before  his  win 
dow  that  he  might  look  once  more  in  their  great, 
gentle  eyes,  and  see  them  crop  the  grass.  "It  was 
his  last  enjoyment. "  Whose  heartstrings  have  not 
been  strained,  whose  eyes  not  moistened  by  the  piti 
ful  supplication  from  the  wasted  lips  of  the  nation's 
great  sufferer,  to  be  carried  back  to  the  old  farm 
house  at  Mentor?  What  now  to  him  the  splendors 
of  ambition's  highest  goal,  beside  the  dear  old  farm 
home  of  his  heart!  Who  but  profoundly  feels  that 
there  he  might  be  saved?  How  fervently  rises  the 
spontaneous  and  universal  prayer  in  every  heart  that 
he  yet  may  see  the  old  roof  tree,  and  be  there  re 
stored  to  life,  to  strength,  to  happiness  and  power 
again.  Heaven  grant  its  perfect  answer! 

Yes,  these  homes  of  the  republic  are  her  safe- 
anchored  foundations.  Fountains  of  purity  and 
strength,  they  will  nourish  and  sustain  the  virtue 
and  wisdom  of  her  people.  Upon  the  enlightened  in 
tegrity,  the  high  patriotism,  the  devoted  fidelity  of 
men  reared  among  such  influences,  she  may  securely 
repose.  We  may  confidently  fix  our  view  upon  the 
future  and  with  composure  go  forward.  We  are 
riding  on  the  grandest  currents  of  the  tide  of  time. 
The  prosperity  we  have  is  but  the  promise  of  the 
prosperity  that  is  to  be.  Dare  you  look  forward  for 
one  hundred  years?  Whose  eye  can  rest  unflinch 
ingly  on  the  advancing  sun  of  our  national  glory? 

[  136  ] 


Who  can  picture  to  his  fancy  this  continent  after  the 
second  century  of  liberty? — when  two  hundred  mil 
lions,  seated  on  every  rood  of  the  vast  surface,  with 
all  the  appliances  by  which  progressive  invention 
will  supply  increasing  needs,  shall  enjoy  the  mag 
nificent  fruits  of  the  highest  human  wisdom  and  lib 
erty,  and  illustrate  the  noblest  possibilities  of  hu 
manity.  Who  shall,  with  mortal  power,  attempt  the 
glorious  forecast,  but  to  cry  with  the  poet  seer: 

Visions  of  glory,  spare  my  aching  sight, 
Ye  unborn  ages,  crowd  not  on  my  soul! 


[137] 


IROQUOIS  CLUB  BANQUET  ORATION 
ON  ANDREW  JACKSON 

1882 


BANQUET  ORATION  ON  ANDREW  JACKSON 

AT  THE  IROQUOIS  CLUB,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 
JANUARY  10,  1882 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Iroquois  Club: 
The  selection  of  this  anniversary  for  your  first 
festival  is  a  signal  mark  of  the  patriotism,  wisdom, 
and  political  courage  which  animate  your  organiza 
tion,  and  a  prophecy  of  its  usefulness. 

Andrew  Jackson!  What  a  flood  of  glorious  his 
tory  rises  on  the  name!  A  generation  ago,  and  more, 
the  old  democratic  hero  passed  behind  the  curtain  of 
death.  But  only  in  the  flesh  to  die.  The  mortal 
change  was  his  apotheosis  to  the  celestial  company 
of  the  gods  of  our  political  religion. 

Well  worthy  of  his  immortality  was  that  heroic 
life!  Eiven  by  passion  and  scarred  by  the  strokes 
of  strife,  yet,  it  stands  a  colossal  figure  among  the 
heroes  and  statesmen  of  mankind,  pre-eminent  for 
single-hearted  honesty  of  purpose  and  exalted  brav 
ery  to  do  and  bear.  The  ivy  of  affection  and  the 
laurel  of  renown,  rich  with  the  growth  of  years,  now 
hide  with  their  beauty  the  scars  and  seams  of  hu 
man  weakness  in  that  splendid  tower  of  God's  archi 
tecture  in  man.  The  features  of  its  majesty  and 
strength  alone  are  left  open  to  view.  Turn  we  our 
gaze  on  them,  behold  the  beacon  which  blazes  from 
its  lofty  head,  and  fitly  celebrate  his  day  by  invok- 


ing  the  inspiration  of  that  character  to  rule  again 
our  political  world. 

This  country  ever  loved,  and,  as  it  shall  be  ever 
free,  ever  must  love,  in  its  true  ideal,  the  Jackson 
democracy.  False  leadership  and  the  turbulence  of 
war  distracted  its  counsels,  obscured  its  distinctive- 
ness,  and  scattered  its  followers  among  various  par 
ties.  The  painful  political  scenes  of  our  day  cry 
aloud  for  their  patriotic  reunion  and  the  restoration 
of  its  power. 

It  was  not  great  intellect  that  made  Andrew  Jack 
son  a  great  leader  of  men.  It  was  his  towering 
character.  He  had  great  intellect;  and  for  war, 
genius.  But  high  above  all,  as  mountain  peaks 
ascend  above  the  lower-lying  hills,  rose  the  lofty 
eminences  of  his  stupendous  character.  Its  para 
mount  features  were  indomitable  will  and  daring, 
but  intelligent  courage.  No  page  of  history  tells  of 
one  who,  before  him,  survived  seventy-eight  years 
and  so  continually  performed  such,  and  so  many, 
actions  of  desperate  audacity. 

From  early  boyhood  to  whitened  age  he  was  beset 
by  perils  and  involved  in  strife,  sometimes  crippled 
by  wounds,  and  often  broken  by  disease.  Others 
would  have  yielded;  or  not  yielding,  would  have 
died.  But  not  he!  Through  every  year  of  life,  in 
every  danger,  in  difficulties  unmeasured,  the  flame  of 
that  matchless  soul  burned  undimmed,  his  courage 
never  flinched  nor  his  iron  will  surrendered.  His 
personal  hardihood  was  not  more  remarkable  than 
his  moral  courage.  The  two  went  hand  in  hand.  He 
as  boldly  met  the  judgment  of  men  and  angels  as 

[142] 


the  efforts  of  an  enemy.  For  he  was  founded  on  ab 
solute  honesty  of  thought.  Not  always  right,  he 
always  thought  he  was  right.  His  acts  were  some 
times  wrong;  his  purposes  in  them,  to  his  mind, 
never.  It  guided  him  in  quarrel  with  his  enemies, 
it  ennobled  his  intercourse  with  friends.  It  gov 
erned  his  individual  transactions,  and  rose  to  ex 
altation  when  he  dealt  for  his  country  and  fellow- 
men.  There  his  example  voiced  the  teaching:  The 
man  is  a  felon  who  in  politics  cheats  the  people,  and 
he  a  traitor  who  betrays  public  trust. 

And  this  our  day  and  generation — which  has  seen 
a  secret  plotter,  because  his  corrupt  arts  turned 
awry  a  state's  election  on  which  a  presidential  con 
test  pivoted,  wined  and  feasted  as  a  political  hero— 
which  witnesses  even  now  at  the  capital  of  its  great 
est  state  the  consummation  of  a  shameful  compact 
for  the  barter  of  public  offices  of  trust,  while  yet  we 
have  not  ceased  to  shudder  from  the  horror  of  a 
president's  assassination  in  time  of  peace  because 
of  the  passionate  intrigue  of  faction — may  we  not 
turn  an  anxious  eye  to  the  lesson  of  honest  convic 
tion  and  integrity  of  purpose  taught  by  Jackson's 
open  war.  Better  far  to  the  country  were  all  his 
upright  errors,  than  a  single  drop  of  the  subtle 
poison  of  the  blood  inoculated  by  the  chicane  and 
fraud  which  have  been  too  long  the  instruments  of 
power  in  the  republic.  These  were  the  qualities 
which  made  the  leadership  of  Jackson  great  and  suc 
cessful.  These  magnetized  and  unified  the  Jackson 
democracy  of  fifty  years  ago.  These  were  their 
principles  of  action.  First,  to  see  the  right  blazing 

[143] 


with  the  authority  of  the  burning  bush  to  Moses; 
then  fight  for  it,  recking  no  peril. 

Above  all  things,  and  first  of  all,  the  Jackson 
democrat,  as  Jackson  did,  loves  his  country  with  a 
love  which  knows  no  higher  duty  but  to  God.  He 
loves  this  complex  frame  of  government  which, 
when  young,  kings  derided,  and  the  world  can  not 
comprehend, — this  mystic  child  of  liberty,  heaven 
conceived,  of  one  in  many  and  many  in  one;  this  fast- 
bound  union  of  independent  states;  this  system  of 
the  stars,  resting  on  the  equipoise  of  contending 
forces,  safe  as  law  and  free  as  space.  He  loves  it 
without  reasoning  and  with  reason;  not  alone  be 
cause  it  shelters  his  wife  and  babes  and  household 
gods,  protects  his  labor  and  opens  unlimited  possi 
bilities  to  his  manhood,  but  because  it  satisfies  the 
natural  longings  of  his  soul,  because  our  fathers  won 
it  as  the  price  of  blood,  because  it  is  the  ark  of  their 
covenant  and  holds  in  security  the  fruit  and  hope  of 
liberty.  He  loves  it  because  it  stands  up  in  the  way 
o£  the  tyrants  of  earth,  inviting  the  oppressed  to 
safety,  and  teaching  the  examples  of  freedom  to 
men.  The  springing  manhood  of  his  youth  rejoices 
in  this  idol,  superior  to  the  love  of  woman,  and  the 
experience  in  his  age  sinks  the  roots  of  his  affec 
tion  in  wisdom  and  philanthropy. 

Such  was  Jackson's  patriotism,  intense  as  his 
character,  passionate  and  true.  It  was  a  nursling 
of  the  bloody  Tarleton's  Washau  massacre,  printed 
on  his  boyish  head  by  a  British  butcher's  sword- 
stroke,  nourished  in  captivity  while  yet  but  four 
teen.  It  sank  deeper  in  his  heart  as  he  helped  to 

[144] 


raise  the  frame  of  a  state  in  the  wilds  of  primitive 
Tennessee,  and  fought  the  savage  in  the  southern 
glades  and  forests.  And  how  full  of  glory  to  his 
country  were  its  ripened  fruits!  Recall  the  scenes 
of  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain!  With  all  our 
victories  on  land  and  sea,  disaster  and  humiliation 
had  befallen  us  by  land.  Our  soil  had  been  invaded, 
our  capital  captured  and  ravaged  by  fire.  Our  wide 
seacoast,  so  promising  to  commerce,  seemed  helpless 
of  defense.  And  when  England  gathered  at  Jamaica 
her  vast  Armada,  boastfully  threatening  to  seize  our 
great  river,  rob  us  of  our  new-bought  territory,  and 
push  her  ships  and  arms  in  triumph  northward  till 
her  cordon  of  empire  bound  us  from  Canada  to  the 
Gulf,  who  compared  her  mighty  preparation  with 
our  feeble  forces,  without  some  fear?  Who  but 
Andrew  Jackson?  With  the  daring  patriotism  of 
Leonidas,  intelligently  skillful  as  it  was  desperate, 
he  flung  by  night  his  little  band  upon  the  enemy,  in 
stantly  he  had  landed  on  the  Louisiana  shore;  then 
gaining  delay  to  raise  a  hasty  breastwork,  with 
bloody  slaughter  of  her  trained  and  veteran  army, 
he  gave  to  England,  more  by  valor  than  by  arms, 
her  most  ignominious  defeat,  and,  changing  our 
humiliation  to  joy,  finished  the  war  in  glory  by  the 
splendid  victory  of  New  Orleans. 

Not  alone  by  a  savage  or  a  foreign  enemy  was 
that  love  of  country  tried.  When  his  hair  was  white 
with  the  toils  and  wars  of  more  than  three-score 
years,  when  care,  disease,  and  grief  had  long  pressed 
hard  upon  his  soul  from  the  very  people  he  had 
fought  and  labored  for,  from  his  own  southern 

10  [  145  ] 


clime  a  deadly  blow  was  leveled  at  this  country. 
The  treason  of  secession  raised  its  horrid  front  to 
defy  the  constitution  and  tear  our  union  asunder. 
Though  many  trembled,  the  old  president  was  un 
shaken.  With  the  fierce  alacrity  of  youth  he  met  it 
before  it  came  forward,  and  raising  that  fitting  cry 
of  a  republic's  chief  magistrate,  "By  the  God  of 
heaven  I  will  uphold  the  law ! "  he  struck  the  treason 
down.  He  knew  but  one  dealing  with  the  country's 
enemy,  whether  he  came  in  ships  across  the  sea,  or 
traitorously  at  home  struck  at  the  sacred  bond  of 
union, — to  fight  him  on  the  instant  and  fight  him  to 
the  death. 

And  this  is  the  devotion  everywhere  of  the  true 
Jackson  democrat.  This  led  him  to  the  fore-ranks 
of  war,  when  a  second  time  secession  aimed  its  mor 
tal  stroke  upon  our  nation's  bond;  when,  alas!  no 
Jackson  stood  in  front.  Forgotten  all  divisions, 
loosed  all  other  ties,  this  devotion  bound  the  Jack 
son  democrat  to  all  true  comrades  in  arms.  Let  the 
warriors  who  fought  with  tongues  and  offices  at 
home  raise  their  chatter  in  vain!  It  was  not  they. 
This  fellowship  of  the  brave  in  patriotic  duty  then 
saved  the  republic  to  men,  and  shall  be  its  safe 
foundation  forever. 

Fellow-democrats,  these  were  the  ruling  guides  of 
the  illustrious  man  whose  name  and  inspiration  you 
invoke  to-night.  But  volumes  only  can  tell  the 
many  deeds  and  services  by  which  he  exemplified 
them  in  action.  I  may  not  pause  to  touch  them  with 
even  bare  allusion.  Yet  I  would  bid  you  mark  his 
dealing  with  another  peculiar  danger  to  popular  in- 

[146] 


stitutions — the  clutch  of  a  great  corporation  on  the 
government.  Like  other  combinations  of  capital, 
the  bank  of  the  United  States  had  its  field  and  day 
of  usefulness.  In  its  useful  work  it  was  entitled  to 
credit  and  protection,  and  both  it  received.  But 
with  strength  it  grew  ambitious  and  strained  for  un 
just  power.  It  stretched  out  its  arm  and  took  the 
Congress  in  its  grasp.  It  defied  the  executive,  and 
a  weaker  one  would  have  bent  to  its  will.  But  Jack 
son  smote  it,  like  Hercules  the  dragon,  and  it  fell! 
And  with  it  fell  to  us  the  warning:  Keep  corpora 
tions  in  their  places.  Hands  off  the  government  of 
the  free! 

And  still  more  pertinent  to  the  day  is  it  to  recall 
his  entrance  on  the  field  of  national  politics.  Then, 
as  now,  a  vicious  party  system  bound  the  people  and 
their  free  choice.  Spurning  the  power  of  the  caucus 
he  burst  its  bands  of  false  cohesion  as  a  mass  of  cob 
web,  and  won  the  people  overwhelmingly  by  direct, 
open  war.  Let  us  emulate  the  pregnant  example. 
Down  with  mere  intrigues  for  office!  Democracy 
wants  no  hireling  soldiery  who  war  for  sack  and 
spoil.  Up  with  our  clear-cut  principles  which  mark 
the  manhood  of  a  freeman,  and  recruit  our  hosts 
from  them  who  will  fight  for  the  right  because  it  is 
right,  for  love  of  country  and  fellow  men. 

There  is  work  enough  to  do  were  we  all  herculean. 
The  Augean  stables  must  be  cleaned  of  long  accu 
mulated  corruption,  our  public  trusts  set  utterly 
above  the  reach  of  political  beasts  of  prey,  our  trade 
made  free  of  taxes  which  rob  the  general  people,  our 

[147] 


commerce  to  ride  the  waves  of  every  sea  beneath  our 
country's  flag. 

Fill  up,  then,  gentlemen,  a  brimming  cup  to  the 
glorious  memory  of  Andrew  Jackson!  With  joy  all 
good  men  may  drink  it,  through  the  reunited  nation. 
In  southern  homes  his  fame  must  have  peculiar 
honor.  For  he  was  theirs  from  whom  we  claim  this 
heritage  of  glory.  And  so  was  the  majestic  Wash 
ington.  So  was  Jefferson,  and  a  long  line  of  sacred 
memory.  Well  may  they  jump  the  sins  of  a  later- 
generation,  to  sink  into  oblivion,  and  seize  again  on 
the  traditions  of  the  fathers  as  theirs  and  ours  to 
gether.  Drink  to  the  glories  of  the  past,  the  hopes 
of  coming  time.  And  while  this  government  bears 
the  ark  of  liberty  down  the  ages,  green  grow  the 
laurels  on  the  hero's  grave  and  sweetly  rest  his  sleep. 
Abide  with  us  forever  the  alert  and  fearless  courage, 
the  open,  simple  honesty,  and  pure  patriotic  love  of 
Old  Hickory! 


[148] 


ADDRESS  OF  NOTIFICATION  TO 
GROVER  CLEVELAND 

1884 


ADDRESS  OF  NOTIFICATION  TO  GROVER 
CLEVELAND 

ALBANY,  NEW  YORK,  JULY  28,  1884 

ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  HIS  NOMINATION  BY  THE  NATIONAL 
DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION 

Grover  Cleveland,  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York: 

These  gentlemen,  my  associates  here  present, 
whose  voice  I  am  honored  with  authority  to  utter, 
are  a  committee  appointed  by  the  national  Demo 
cratic  convention  which  recently  assembled  in  Chi 
cago,  and  charged  with  the  grateful  duty  of  ac 
quainting  you,  officially,  and  in  that  solemn  and 
ceremonious  manner  which  the  dignity  and  import 
ance  of  the  communication  demand,  with  the  inter 
esting  result  of  its  deliberations,  already  known  to 
you  through  the  ordinary  channels  of  news. 

Sir,  that  august  body,  convened  by  direct  delega 
tion  from  the  Democratic  people  of  the  several  states 
and  territories  of  the  republic,  and  deliberating  un 
der  the  witness  of  the  greatest  assembly  of  freemen 
ever  gathered  for  such  a  conference,  in  forethought 
of  the  election  which  the  constitution  imposes  upon 
them  to  make  during  the  current  year,  have  nomi 
nated  you  to  the  people  of  these  United  States  to  be 
their  president  for  the  next  ensuing  term  of  that 
great  office,  and,  with  grave  consideration  of  its  ex 
alted  responsibilities,  have  confidently  invoked  their 

[  153  ] 


suffrages  to  invest  you  with  its  functions.  Through 
this  committee,  the  convention's  high  requirement 
is  delivered  that  you  accept  that  candidacy. 

This  choice  carries  with  it  profound  personal  re 
spect  and  admiration;  but  it  has  been  in  no  manner 
the  fruit  of  these  sentiments.  The  national  Democ 
racy  seek  a  president  not  in  compliment  for  what 
the  man  is,  or  reward  for  what  he  has  done,  but  in 
a  just  expectation  of  what  he  will  accomplish  as  the 
true  servant  of  a  free  people,  fit  for  their  lofty  trust. 
Always  of  momentous  consequence,  they  conceive 
the  public  exigency  to  be  now  of  transcendant  im 
portance;  that  a  laborious  reform  in  administration, 
as  well  as  legislation,  is  imperatively  necessary  to 
the  prosperity  and  honor  of  the  republic,  and  a  com 
petent  chief  magistrate  must  be  of  unusual  temper 
and  power.  They  have  observed  with  attention  your 
execution  of  the  public  trust  you  have  held,  espe 
cially  of  that  with  which  you  are  now  so  honorably 
invested.  They  place  their  reliance  for  the  useful 
ness  of  the  services  they  expect  to  exact  for  the  bene 
fit  of  the  nation,  upon  the  evidence  derived  from  the 
services  you  have  performed  for  the  State  of  New 
York.  They  invite  the  electors  to  such  proofs  of 
character  and  competence,  to  justify  their  confidence 
that  in  the  nation,  as  heretofore  in  the  state,  the 
public  business  will  be  administered  with  commen 
surate  intelligence  and  ability,  with  single-hearted 
honesty  and  fidelity,  and  with  a  resolute  and  daring 
fearlessness  which  no  faction,  no  combination,  no 
power  of  wealth,  no  mistaken  clamor  can  dismay  or 
qualify.  In  the  spirit  of  the  wisdom,  and  invoking 

[154] 


the  benediction  of  the  Divine  Teacher  of  men,  we 
challenge  from  the  sovereignty  of  this  nation  His 
words,  in  commendation  and  ratification  of  our 
choice:  "Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  ser 
vant;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will 
make  thee  ruler  over  many  things. ' '  In  further  ful 
filment  of  our  duty,  the  secretary  will  now  present 
the  written  communication  signed  by  the  committee. 


[155] 


EXTEMPORE  ADDRESS  ON  GENERAL 
GRANT 

1885 


EXTEMPORE  ADDRESS  ON  GENERAL 
GRANT 

AT  THE  ANNUAL  MEETING  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE  ARMY  OF 
THE  TENNESSEE  AT  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 
SEPTEMBER  9, 1885 

Mr.  President,  Companions: 

It  was  a  prudent  stipulation,  expressly  made  be 
tween  your  committee  and  myself,  that  my  part  in 
this  goodly  array  of  platform  ornamentation  should 
be  fulfilled  by  my  silence,  and  how,  at  this  stage  of 
these  exercises,  shall  I  dare  to  break  that  pledge, 
how  attempt  to  interest  you  after  what  we  have 
listened  to  to-night  upon  the  glorious  theme  which 
has  engaged  the  speakers.  Our  hearts  throb  with 
emotion,  stirred  by  the  eloquent  speeches  which  have 
proceeded  from  our  soldier  president  and  our  chosen 
orator,  and  the  noble  tide  of  thought  and  feeling- 
runs  tumultuous  through  the  brain  and  heart.  He 
would  be  a  daring  man  who  should  essay  extempo 
raneously  to  give  further  expression  to  the  tender 
and  glorious  sentiments  that  stir  your  breasts  with 
all  these  circumstances,  and  he,  vain-glorious  and 
rash,  who  should  attempt  hastily  to  view  and  meas 
ure  the  magnificent  proportions  of  that  hero  who  has 
been  our  theme,  and  whose  heroic  course  was  not 
finished  until  that  morn  of  July,  on  Mount  Mc 
Gregor.  Yet  I  will  venture,  since  I  am  here,  to  touch 

[159] 


one  feature,  the  like  of  which  the  past  of  all  human 
history  has  never  exhibited — the  shining  mark  of 
his  highest  glory  which,  heaven  be  praised!  his  eyes 
were  permitted  in  clear  vision  to  see:  I  mean  the 
love  he  won  from  the  people  whom  he  conquered; 
won  by  his  magnanimity  of  soul;  won  by  the  result 
ing  value  to  them  of  his  war  against  them;  I  mean 
the  enemies  of  his  mighty  strife  who  stood  as  tear 
ful  friends  at  his  dying  bed.  No  contending  armies 
ever  fought  before  to  so  desperate  a  conclusion.  No 
conqueror  ever  wrought  to  such  utter  victory.  But 
his  war  was  waged  for  no  conquest,  for  no  personal 
ambition.  He  fought  in  enlightened  love  of  fellow- 
men  for  the  salvation  of  the  dearest  principles  of 
universal  human  liberty,  and  his  success  shed  bless 
ings  on  the  vanquished  and  victorious  alike.  He 
lived  to  receive  the  perfect  reward  of  perfected  work, 
the  grateful  homage  of  a  reunited  nation  indissolu- 
bly  bound  by  common  interests  now  universally  rec 
ognized,  still  further  knit  by  general  national  love 
now  universally  felt.  What  a  marvelous  vicissitude! 
What  warrior  ever  wrote  his  adversary  before  two 
such  messages  as  he  to  Buckner.  Once  he  woke  the 
reverberations  of  a  gloomy  sky  when  he  sent  that 
stern  demand  to  his  foe  which  first  gave  promise  to 
our  cause — "No  terms  but  unconditional  surrender. " 
To  that  foe,  become  his  friend,  and  rendering  tearful 
duty  at  his  bedside,  he  wrote  again:  "I  have  wit 
nessed  since  my  sickness  just  what  I  have  wished  to 
see  ever  since  the  war — harmony  and  good  feeling 
between  the  sections."  And  who  bore  his  pall  and 
mingled  tears  upon  his  urn!  The  greatest  surviving 

[160] 


comrades  of  his  war,  the  greatest  surviving  enemies 
of  his  war.  Who  are  now  his  mourners?  The  sur 
vivors  of  the  armies  which  he  led  and  the  armies 
which  he  fought,  and  all  the  people  from  whom  those 
armies  sprung,  and  a  double  generation  of  their 
parentage.  Think  how  the  great  warriors  of  earth 
have  wrought  before!  How  noble  captives  and 
ruined  nations  have  made  their  triumphal  marches 
grand!  How  concourses  of  enslaved  men  have  chased 
their  harried  souls  in  the  flight  of  death!  And  then 
how  sweetly,  borne  to  heaven's  embrace,  Grant's 
mighty  soul  rose  on  the  heartfelt  prayers  of  a  grate 
ful  people,  rejoicing  in  the  liberty  and  mutual  love 
he  fought  and  struggled  for!  No!  weave  no  chaplet 
of  mere  laurel  for  his  marble,  but  twine  there  the 
woodbine,  the  honeysuckle,  and  the  rose,  to  tell  the 
world  that  the  affection  of  his  countryman,  rising 
like  incense  from  all  happy  American  homes,  is  the 
guerdon  of  his  character  and  deeds,  the  ending  laurel 
of  his  renowned  name. 

And  I  cannot  forbear,  Mr.  President,  to  speak  the 
fervent  gratitude  I  feel, — yours  as  well,  I  know, 
companions — that  we  are  spared  to  assemble  with 
our  old  commander  here;  not  with  adulation  to 
speak  our  love,  but  with  him  to  witness  the  fruition 
of  our  strife,  the  full  fruition,  as  Grant  himself  de 
clared  it  in  that  letter  which  I  quoted,  to  say  with 
him,  as  he  wrote:  "We  may  now  look  forward  to 
perpetual  peace  at  home  and  to  a  national  strength 
which  shall  secure  us  against  any  foreign  compli 
cation.  "  And  in  the  happiness  of  this  vast  people, 
careering  forward  with  multiplying  millions  rejoic- 

»  [161] 


ing  in  the  civilized  comforts  and  enlightened  gratifi 
cation  for  body,  brain,  and  soul,  such  as  were  never 
so  widely  diffused  before,  securely  placed  on  insti 
tutions  resting  upon  common  interests  and  general 
harmony,  the  fruit  of  war  is  ripe  amid  the  sunshine 
of  peace.  And  when  we  turn  our  thoughts  backward 
to  the  noble  men  whose  life-blood  poured  from  many 
a  gaping  wound  or  ebbed  away  in  slow  disease,  we 
may  feel  assured  their  sacrifices  were  acceptable  to 
heaven,  that  their  glory  in  that  other  world  is  secure, 
for  Christ  is  not  going  to  be  too  hard  on  the  men 
who  died  for  men. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  occupy  your  time  longer.  It 
is  no  occasion  for  me  to  endeavor  to  indulge  in  any 
thing  that  will  please,  especially  in  anything  that 
will  furnish  entertainment  or  amusement.  My  heart 
is  full  of  this  great  subject,  upon  which  I  love  to 
dwell. 


[162] 


DECORATION  DAY  ADDRESS 


1886 


DECORATION  DAY  ADDRESS 

AT  THE  NEW  YORK  ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC,  MAY  30,  1886 

A  quarter  of  a  century  has  sunk  into  the  grave  of 
time  since  the  dread  alarum  of  civil  war  rang 
through  our  land.  A  new  era  has  begun;  a  new  gen 
eration  is  upon  the  stage  of  life.  You  see  now  every 
where,  in  your  daily  walks,  active  men,  whose  hands 
are  on  the  levers  of  affairs,  who  carry  no  useful  mem 
ory  of  the  events  of  those  direful  years.  It  is  a  duty 
and  a  privilege  of  two-fold  value  to  recount  and 
emphasize  the  features  of  the  patriotism,  purposes, 
and  grand  results  by  which  our  union  soldiers  gained 
their  title  to  the  veneration  of  their  countrymen  and 
the  world;  first  to  them,  in  the  keeping  of  their 
rightful  glory  bright  and  pure;  and  then  to  living 
men  and  to  our  children  by  emulous  quickening  and 
better  understanding  of  the  love  and  duty  due  our 
country. 

It  is  not  from  their  soldiership  alone  that  the 
sheen  of  their  renown  is  so  bright, — their  labors, 
privations,  and  dreadful  sufferings;  their  valorous 
courage  and  gallant  deeds  in  arms, — for  these  were 
not  distinctive  in  their  ennoblement.  These  they 
shared  with  their  adversaries,  whose  soldiership,  ap 
proved  on  many  a  hard-fought  and  bloody  field, 
worthily  compete  for  its  equal  place  on  the  page 
of  military  fame.  Beyond  the  soldier's  qualities, 

[167] 


though  unsurpassed  in  them,  the  men  who  wrought 
by  arms  the  salvation  of  this  government  raise  noble 
claim  to  gratitude  and  remembrance  in  the  unsel 
fish,  chivalric  spirit  of  their  sacrifice  for  the  liberty 
and  progress  of  man,  and  in  the  vast,  far-reaching 
benefits  bestowed  by  them  on  their  countrymen. 
Their  meed  of  praise  rests  on  their  acceptance  of 
conditions  never  before  imposed  in  human  affairs. 
In  the  calm  of  history,  now  that  the  clouds  of  con 
temporaneous  turmoil  have  disappeared,  we  may 
distinguish,  in  clear  view,  "the  height  of  the  great 
argument"  to  which  their  souls  responded.  It  is 
easy  to  give  reasons  which  demand  patriotic  devo 
tion  in  sacred  duty  from  every  citizen;  another  thing 
to  so  answer  the  call  that  the  noble  passion  mounts 
to  the  cool  heights  of  self-sacrifice.  Patriotism  and 
piety  are  kindred  elements  and  obligations  of  man 
hood,  both  the  soul's  homage  to  the  great  giver  of 
happiness.  Life,  and  all  the  bounteous  provisions 
of  nature  for  its  joys,  man  takes  from  heaven;  from 
his  country,  the  peace  and  care  of  law  in  which  to 
possess  them.  All  states  are  but  aggregated  men; 
peculiarly  the  republic  sums  in  its  character  only 
the  qualities  of  its  people,  and  its  wisdom  and  power 
rise  no  higher  than  their  source  in  the  best  and 
truest  of  her  freemen.  Their  patriotism  is  the 
barometer  of  her  vitality.  Yet  in  peace,  even,  how 
many  deny  or  neglect  the  obligations  of  their  citi 
zenship  ;  and  when,  in  war,  the  country  cries  for  help, 
hard,  hard  indeed,  comes  to  the  true  and  peaceful 
citizen  the  summons  to  arms. 

What  though  his  heart  be  stout  and  his  eye  flinch 

[168] 


riot  in  danger 's  front !  Is  life  not  dear  to  the  noble- 
spirited?  Is  home  sweet  but  to  the  base?  Are  pri 
vations  and  toil  and  disease,  absence  from  them  you 
love,  the  steady  round  of  daily  hardship,  and  the 
frequent  look  in  the  face  of  death — though  in  the 
path  of  duty  not  shunned  by  the  brave — yet  objects 
of  desire?  It  was  a  hard  and  strange  problem  that 
fell  upon  this  people  twenty-five  years  ago.  War, 
that  has  everywhere  desolated  the  earth,  was  beyond 
conception  of  Americans  as  a  possibility  between 
the  sweet  sister  states,  in  this,  our  land  of  free  and 
heaven-given  institutions.  Elsewhere,  history  told 
us  how  kings  and  potentates  had  marched  to  con 
quest,  striving  to  lay  the  world  beneath  their  scep 
tres;  how  bad  men's  ambition  oft  had  overturned  the 
state,  and  a  thousand  pretexts  opened  human  arter 
ies  and  filled  hasty  graves.  But  in  this  dear  land 
these  horrid  inflammations  were  impossible;  desper 
ate  threatening^  were  esteemed  unmeaning  bluster, 
and  nothing  to  be  weighed  as  perilous  against  an 
American's  patriotism.  There  was  a  rough  and  sud 
den  wakening.  While  patriotism  trusted,  here,  too, 
ambition  had  plotted  its  advantage,  regardless  of 
human  suffering;  here  passion  raged,  obscuring 
reason's  light;  here  fraudulent,  pernicious  theories 
had  blinded  true  men  and  disguised  the  aspect  of 
revolt,  until  it  seemed  the  duty  of  allegiance,  and 
while  incredulous  fidelity  gazed  inert,  secession  be 
came  a  fact  and  menaced  the  Union  with  dismem 
berment.  What,  then,  was  their  duty  who  faith 
fully  acknowledged  the  allegiance  that  was  the  debt 
of  all,  to  the  union  of  these  states?  All  the  experi- 

[169] 


ence  of  men  never  held  such  a  question  before.  Lib 
erty  had  been  oft  the  inspiration  of  war,  but  always 
liberty  for  them  who  fought  for  it,  either  to  acquire 
or  defend  its  blessing  for  themselves.  But  in  the 
name  and  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  why,  to  what  end 
should  the  men  of  the  faithful  states,  themselves  free 
and  in  their  freedom  unchallenged  and  secure,  carry 
elsewhere  their  lives  and  treasure  in  the  dreadful 
waste  of  war?  Stay,  for  a  brief  space,  to  contemplate 
the  practical  question — the  business  aspects  of  it, 
so  to  say,  to  calculating  minds;  for,  through  the 
effect  of  selfishness  in  the  men  whose  natures  they 
misconceived,  the  plotters  of  secession  reckoned  on 
an  easy  seizure  of  the  separate  dominion  they  cov 
eted.  Well  might  the  calculating  wisdom  of  the 
world,  reckoning  the  palpable  self-interests  of  the 
living  generation,  predict  the  supine  sufferance  of 
separation.  Set  debit  and  credit  in  their  different 
columns,  and  how  did  every  mercenary  argument, 
touching  living  men,  swell  the  balance  against  the 
Union?  On  what  might  rise  the  hope  that  patriot 
ism  could  be  so  lofty,  courage  so  daring,  fortitude 
so  long-enduring,  men  so  self-sacrificing,  that  they 
would  so  waste  their  substance  and  slay  themselves, 
in  a  far-strained  forecast  of  loving  care  for  genera 
tions  yet  unborn,  embracing  in  the  generous  grasp 
the  humanity  of  their  enemy  as  their  own  ?  It  was  a 
noble  study,  a  surpassing  spectacle,  the  demeanor  of 
this  great  people,  long  accustomed  to  quiet  freedom, 
confronted  with  such  a  fateful  war.  The  overwhelm 
ing  magnitude  of  the  interest,  involving  every  man 
in  person,  engaged  and  concentrated  the  intensest 

[170] 


attention,  thought,  and  passion;  and  public  opinion, 
usually  slow  to  form  and  show  expression,  became 
quick  of  decision  and  impatiently  incisive  in  declar 
ation.  But  partially  roused  and  still  sluggish  with 
lingering  confidence  at  the  first  call  to  arms,  the 
initial  disaster  effected  what  mere  threatening 
failed  to  produce.  Then,  in  colossal  form  and  feat 
ure,  majestically  rising  in  clear  lines,  the  spirit 
of  the  freemen  of  the  republic  came  out  to  view,  tow 
ering  in  the  northern  sky,  like  an  apparition  from 
above.  Upon  its  aspect  amazement  has  given  way 
to  understanding,  sorrow  and  pain  were  overlaid  by 
the  flush  of  noble  rage,  and  every  lineament,  kind 
ling  with  inward  fire,  told  of  stern  and  unrelenting 
resolution,  while  the  rising  murmur  of  united  voices 
broke  into  shrill  and  clear  response  to  the  grand 
challenge  of  their  patriotism  and  courage.  "By 
God's  providence  our  fathers  delivered  this  land 
from  bonds,  and  dedicated  it  to  be  the  homestead  of 
liberty  forever.  They  left  it  to  us  a  blessed  legacy 
and  a  sacred  charge.  To  divide  is  to  destroy  it. 
Kings  and  their  courtiers  already  smile  at  our 
threatened  catastrophe,  while  fear  casts  gloom  and 
horror  on  them  who  love  their  fellow  men.  Away 
with  every  base  appeal  to  ease,  to  interest  or  to 
safety!  The  union  of  these  states  shall  not  fail;  not 
a  state  shall  be  lost  to  the  great  family  of  the  consti 
tution;  not  a  star  shall  fall  from  the  azure  field  of  the 
flag  of  our  country.  We  seek  no  conquest,  we  will 
invade  no  right.  But  recking  no  cost,  no  sacrifice,  no 
peril,  wherever  treason  and  rebellion  raise  their 
heads  against  this  government,  there  we  will  strike 

[171] 


them  down,  till  the  last  foe  bends  his  knee  in  duty 
and  allegiance. ' '  This  was  the  plain  and  simple  issue 
tendered  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms;  this  the  call  to 
battle  to  which  the  Union  soldier  answered.  He  went 
on  this  awful  errand  to  shed  blood  in  the  cause  of  hu 
manity,  by  war  to  maintain  the  dominion  of  broth 
erly  love  among  men.  The  south  was  surrounded 
and  invested  as  though  a  vast  fortress,  with  Rich 
mond  for  its  citadel,  and  the  other  lines  of  war  the 
outlying  circumvallation.  By  sea  the  navy  stretched 
its  coil  of  blockade  along  three  thousand  miles  of 
stormy  coast;  and,  though  received  with  scoffs,  be 
fore  the  end  its  iron  grasp  shut  every  throat  of  nour 
ishment  on  the  rebellious  shore.  On  the  land  side 
the  cordon  of  armies  extending  from  the  eastern 
front,  enveloped  with  fiery  folds  all  the  convulsive, 
struggling  mass  of  embattled  enemies.  Locked  in 
almost  constantly  deadly  conflict,  contending  armies 
swayed  between  the  capitals  to  and  fro,  in  equal  in 
decisive  struggle;  while,  with  mighty  stroke,  the 
western  forces  cut  off  great  segments  of  the  south 
ern  territory  from  co-operation,  and  the  constricting 
bands  of  the  nation's  power  drew  closer  and  tighter 
their  fierce  embrace.  Once  and  again  desperate  sal 
lies  by  the  beleaguered  forces  were  essayed,  but  en 
countered  and  repelled  with  bloody  lesson;  while,  in 
hot  rapidity,  titanic  blows  of  battle  broke  their  nar 
rowing  lines  of  defense.  At  last,  after  weary,  fear 
ful  years,  surcharged  with  battle,  toil,  privation,  dis 
ease,  and  death,  came  the  grand  catastrophe,  and  the 
war-worn  boys  in  blue  beheld  the  last  armed  enemy 
a  captive,  and  their  tremendous  labor  done.  How 

[172] 


wonderful  had  been  their  work;  how  absolute  the 
accomplishment  of  the  purpose  of  their  arms!  What 
mighty  deeds  had  their  four  years  wrought!  Not  an 
unfaithful  state  remained  unswept  by  the  besom  of 
their  war;  not  a  rebel  force  unsmitten  by  their  fire. 
Where  in  the  annals  of  war  can  the  like  be  found? 
Where  such  a  contest — so  gigantic  in  all  its  propor 
tions,  so  nearly  matched  in  the  outset,  so  charged 
with  multiplied  battles,  so  obstinately  and  fiercely 
fought,  so  soon  and  so  effectively  determined!  And 
so  were  recompensed  our  brethren  in  arms.  In  ven 
eration  of  the  fathers  they  mustered  in  the  name  of 
union,  content  but  to  save  what  the  Revolution  had 
planted ;  and  lo !  the  angel  of  liberty,  in  shining  pres 
ence,  led  their  battle  on  beyond  the  fathers'  aims,  to 
finish  the  work  they  left  undone  and  win  a  brighter 
crown.  They  blotted  from  the  constitution  the  cov 
ert  meaning  of  that  abhorrent  word  the  voice  of 
freedom  refused  to  utter  there;  they  scourged  from 
her  temple  the  mongering  of  mothers  and  babes. 
'Twas  they  who  gave  you  honest  right,  ere  the  con 
stitution  has  aged  a  century,  without  self-reproach 
to  raise,  at  the  gate  where  the  nations  enter  our  habi 
tation,  the  lofty  figure  which  boldly  proclaims  for 
the  spirit  of  our  liberty,  leadership  in  the  enlighten 
ment  of  mankind.  I  have  spoken  of  these  facts  in 
the  nation's  history  as  peculiar  titles  of  honor  to  the 
soldiers  of  the  Union.  But,  comrades,  it  would  be 
false  and  vainglorious  to  arrogate  as  theirs  alone 
any  feature  of  these  honors.  They  are  the  property 
of  the  nation.  Patriotism,  high  purpose,  and  great 
sacrifices  in  the  time  of  war  were  shared  by  all, 


however  varying  in  degree.  And  for  more  than 
twenty  years  the  outcome  of  results  has  been  incum 
bent  wholly  on  the  patriotism  and  conduct  of  Ameri 
cans  as  citizens  and  not  as  soldiers.  Not  those  of  the 
faithful  states  alone,  let  it  be  justly  remembered,  but 
of  the  south  as  well.  Vanquished  as  well  as  victors 
had  to  bend  passion's  knee  to  duty;  and  to  accept, 
not  less  than  to  bestow,  forgiveness  and  magnanim 
ity  requires  the  generous  mind.  The  trial  of  tem 
per,  wisdom,  and  character  has  been  unexampled, 
but  the  issue  has  been  triumphant,  and  the  great  pur 
poses  of  the  war  have  been  secured  by  magnanimity 
on  the  one  hand  and  honor  on  the  other,  blended  in 
restored  common  national  love  and  pride.  The  para 
mount  remaining  duty  is  fraternity  and  mutual  hu 
man  love.  The  best  and  bravest  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  Union,  and  the  best  and  bravest  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  South,  long  since  joined  their  friendly  hands, 
honoring  each  other's  valor,  proud  of  their  common 
nationality,  banishing  remembrance  of  error,  unit 
ing  their  spirit  and  pride  to  the  traditions  of  the  na 
tion,  and  pledging  themselves  to  its  future  power 
and  glory.  They  who  have  justified  their  manhood 
by  the  ordeal  of  battle  are  brave  enough  to  trust  and 
worthy  to  be  trusted.  In  brigades  and  divisions  they 
have  marched  off  the  field  in  this  world's  strife,  and 
passed  across  the  dark  valley  to  the  mysterious  land 
of  death.  In  that  unknown  world,  if  hopes  and  faith 
for  the  life  beyond  have  value,  the  nobility  of  their 
manhood  here  is  assurance  of  their  condition  there, 
and  in  joyous  happy  union  they  possess  the  realms 
of  bliss.  Shall  their  children  left  behind  pursue  their 

[174] 


earthly  quarrel,  or  accept  the  richer  legacy  of  their 
reconciliation?  The  past  can  not  be  altered;  the 
future,  under  God,  is  in  our  hands.  The  hope  of 
that  future  is  in  union  of  fellowship,  cemented  by 
interest,  by  patriotism,  and  by  pride.  Eeproaches 
for  deeds  beyond  redemption,  for  conditions  gone 
forever;  sighs  for  hopes  once  entertained,  but  long 
turned  to  ashes,  may  be  worse  than  folly — they  may 
become  a  crime.  Whoever  gives  his  voice  or  his  ex 
ample  to  light  or  fan  a  flame  of  sectional  discord 
among  this  fraternal  people,  aims  at  the  nation's 
peace  and  life.  He  has  spoken  treason,  though  not 
dared  to  act  it,  who  from  the  one  side  flings  vain 
taunts  and  scoffs,  the  lingering  demons  of  the  past, 
or  on  the  other  sentimentally  prates  of  the  resurrec 
tion  of  that  moldering  mummy,  "the  lost  cause. " 
Let  him  who  can,  pitch  his  prophetic  vision  through 
the  coming  years  over  the  prosperity,  the  grandeur 
of  this  land  teeming  with  multiplied  millions  of  free 
men,  rich  in  resources,  enlightened  by  well-diffused 
knowledge,  and  happy  in  developed  life,  and,  as  he 
contemplates  the  safely-moving  train  of  human  hap 
piness,  weigh  the  iniquity  that  would  cast  an  ob 
struction  on  its  track.  Eash  with  enthusiasm  and 
inexperience,  we  sent  out  our  earliest  body  of  troops 
as  if  victories  in  war  required  only  a  feverish  desire. 
They  soon  returned  in  panic,  and  the  land  quivered 
with  tremor  of  humiliation  and  fear.  McClellan  took 
the  mob,  and  an  army  came  into  being,  never  sur 
passed  in  all  the  ages  of  war.  That  splendid  corps 
was  his,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  From  the  begin 
ning  to  the  end  it  coped  in  constant  struggle  with 

[175] 


the  best  trained  and  best  led  enemy.  In  chequered 
fortune  it  bore  the  direct  shocks  and  blows  of  war, 
but  none  could  break  its  spirit  or  its  form.  Relent 
less  in  its  iron  purpose,  at  last  it  gained  the  triumph 
of  the  age,  and  took  the  sword  of  Lee.  Never  more 
magnificent  than  when  he  led  it,  through  all  its  re 
nowned  career  it  remained  McClellan's  army  and 
loved  him  as  its  father  to  the  end.  And  though  cruel 
fate  denied  him  but  to  look  upon  the  glittering  capi 
tal  promised  to  its  prowess,  the  glory  of  his  army 
that  won  it  will  forever  irradiate  his  name.  And 
Hancock's  name  was  also  called  by  that  dread  con 
stable  who  summons  to  the  grave.  The  superb  Han 
cock!  The  beau  ideal  of  manhood's  splendor! 
Fancy's  figure  of  the  fighting  general!  Bred  in  all 
the  learning  of  the  martial  art,  practiced  in  its  ex 
ercises,  in  stature,  port,  and  speech,  the  soldier  and 
the  gentleman  in  lustrous  perfection.  His  brilliant 
star  shines  in  the  galaxy  of  the  heroes  of  the  battle 
field,  whom,  from  both  sides,  history  has  chosen  for 
the  firmament  of  military  fame.  In  that  great  com 
bat  on  which,  more  than  any  single  one  besides,  the 
nation's  safety  hung,  the  supreme  moment  of  de 
cision  was  committed  to  his  conduct.  His  command 
sustained  the  desperate  assault  which  Pickett  led, 
staking  the  battle  on  the  issue,  and  with  bloody  pen 
alty  drove  him  back  and  won  the  momentous  day. 
And  there,  stricken  with  a  grievous  wound,  his  own 
blood  poured  upon  the  earth.  But  it  fell  upon  the 
roots  of  his  renown,  and  among  the  laurels  of  the 
field  of  Gettysburg,  Hancock's  springs  immortal. 
Upon  the  rocky  side  of  your  majestic  Hudson  an- 

[  176  ] 


other  sepulchre  has  been  builded,  an  urn  of  mortality 
inclosed  within  it.  And  thither,  through  coming  ages 
far  beyond  the  stretch  of  human  ken  to  tell,  the 
patriots  of  ours  and  the  great  souled  of  every  land, 
in  unceasing  pilgrimage  will  hold  their  way  to  feel 
the  touch  of  glory  there.  For,  in  that  shrine  of  im 
mortality  are  stored  the  ashes  of  the  invincible  in 
strument  of  God,  whose  genius  ruled  the  whirlwind 
of  war  to  the  salvation  of  the  republic.  There, 
parted  from  the  sight  of  his  lamenting  countrymen, 
lies  the  perishable  form  of  the  unconquered  Grant. 
Oh,  noble  dead!  Your  sacrifice  was  not  in  vain! 
Safely  rests  the  land  you  saved  on  the  patriotic 
breasts  of  your  countrymen.  "With  malice  toward 
none,  with  charity  for  all/7  they  shall  fraternally 
pursue  their  grand  career;  and  in  their  hearts  your 
hallowed  memory  shall  be  your  country's  treasure 
and  stay  forever. 


12 


[177] 


ADDRESS  ON  THE  PRESENTATION  OF 
THE  STATUE  OF  PERE  MARQUETTE 

1897 


ADDRESS  ON  THE  PRESENTATION  OF  THE 
STATUE  OF  PERE  MARQUETTE 

PRESENTED  TO  CONGRESS  BY  THE  STATE  OF  WISCONSIN,  IN 
THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  APRIL  29,  1897 

Mr.  President,  when  this  lusty  nation,  outgrow 
ing  the  habitations  of  its  youth,  built  new  council 
chambers  for  its  legislators,  it  was  a  happy  thought 
that  consecrated  to  the  noble  art  of  sculpture  the  old 
Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  patriot 
ism  will  hear  the  echoes  ring  forever  of  glorious 
words  there  spoken  for  liberty  and  justice  among 
men.  Nor  less  felicitous  was  the  plan  which  pro 
posed  to  the  sovereign  associates  in  Federal  Union 
the  work  of  its  embellishment  as  authors  and  sharers, 
in  fraternal  equality,  of  the  national  prizes  of  honor 
and  fame  to  be  there  illustrated  and  preserved.  So, 
naturally  enough,  came  up  the  suggestion  that  was 
directed  by  Congress  to  go  with  the  invitation  which 
the  President  was  empowered  to  give,  desiring  the 
states  to  select  for  this  noble  commemoration  from 
among  them  who  in  life  on  earth  had  been  their  citi 
zens  "illustrious  for  historic  renown  or  for  distin 
guished  civic  or  military  services."  It  was  the  off 
spring,  too,  of  a  time  when  the  country  throbbed 
with  patriotic  fervor,  and  all  hearts  and  minds  were 
fixed  on  the  mighty  conflict  then  raging,  the  year 
1864,  when  the  world  witnessed  the  soldiers  of  the 

[181] 


Union  clinched  in  a  death  grapple  with  the  great  re 
volt,  and  surely  saw  the  last  issue  of  war  had  been 
joined,  and  that  with  the  coming  triumph  a  glory 
unequaled  in  the  annals  of  mankind  would  be  won 
by  the  heroes  of  liberty. 

This  restriction  of  the  invitation  was,  however, 
very  differently  applicable  to  the  States  of  our  Fed 
eration.  The  older,  especially  the  original  thirteen, 
had  gained  even  then,  as  states,  a  historic  past. 
Among  their  possessions  "already  secure"  were  the 
records  of  a  time  beyond  the  memory  of  living  men; 
and  if  not  yet  dim  or  misty  still  we  are  able  to  see 
in  perspective  the  creative  and  memorable  deeds 
done  in  the  course  of  their  evolution,  distinguishing 
the  merit  of  achievement  as  contemporaries  can 
never  see  it.  They  may,  therefore,  justly  lay  pecu 
liar  claims  to  noble  figures,  radiant  among  the 
shades,  whose  story  is  the  treasure  of  all  Americans, 
and  say,  "These  were  our  citizens." 

But,  sir,  the  conditions  are  necessarily  somewhat 
different  with  the  newer  states  like  Wisconsin.  For, 
although  as  part  of  colonial  grants  whose  base  was 
on  the  Atlantic  coast,  our  territory  shared  with  the 
earliest  the  boon  of  independence;  it  long  lay  an 
almost  unknown  land,  the  remote  corner  of  the  old 
Northwest  of  the  republic.  During  many  ensuing 
years  the  eager  crowd  of  home  seekers  pushed  out 
upon  a  course  southward  of  the  Great  Lakes,  uncon 
scious  of  the  surpassing  excellence,  riches,  and 
beauty  with  which  nature  had  endowed  her  land  of 
choice,  and  so  left  it  the  prize  of  a  later  but  not  less 
fortunate  generation.  Thus  it  happens  that  while 

[182] 


Wisconsin  takes  date  with  the  first  in  liberty  and 
title,  her  entrance  to  the  Union  was  preceded  not 
only  by  ten  states — all  the  states,  in  fact,  until  Vir 
ginia  was  divided  in  war — which  were  built  upon  the 
soil  won  from  Great  Britain  but  also  by  six  erected 
upon  later  acquisitions,  four  of  them  even  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  Her  organization  as  a  territory,  a 
territory  then  stretching  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Missouri,  is  within  the  recollection  of  venerable 
Senators  still  in  honored  service  in  this  Chamber. 
So  it  was  that  but  sixteen  years  had  passed  of  state 
hood  when  this  invitation  was  received  to  share  the 
honor  and  duty  of  contribution  to  the  nation's  Hall 
of  Statuary. 

To  accept  it,  therefore,  in  terms  unqualified,  de 
manded  the  choice  among  contemporaries  for  the 
special  commemoration;  an  invidious  task  not  con 
genial  to  human  nature,  inevitably  to  be  shrunken 
from.  There  was  no  chance  for  a  far  retrospection 
through  the  aisles  of  time,  with  its  softening  lights, 
its  soothing  oblivion,  its  justice  in  relative  measure 
ments,  its  elimination  of  true  desert.  Many  were 
the  brave  and  generous  spirits,  the  strong  and  help 
ful,  among  our  pioneers  and  the  builders  of  our  state, 
whom  the  respect  and  affection  of  their  fellows  com 
mend  to  the  grateful  remembrance  of  posterity;  too 
many  most  cherished  to  be  omitted  by  a  particular- 
ization  of  some.  And  when  the  war  time  befell,  and 
manhood  heard  throughout  the  land  the  call  of  Lib 
erty  to  arms,  the  answering  voice  of  Wisconsin  came 
not  from  some  daring  few,  in  advanced  leadership 
of  thought  and  action,  but  from  every  home  and 

[183] 


hearthstone,  through  town  and  countryside,  re 
sponding  thousands  poured  forth  to  battle,  knowing 
well  their  cause;  near  one-half  of  all  her  voting  citi 
zens  bore  her  banner,  floating  beside  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  on  every  field  of  war  in  the  Southern  land, 
and  her  list  of  true  heroes  a  Homer  might  worthily 
sing.  Not  yet  do  we  dare  the  choice  among  them, 
all  so  cherished  in  honor  and  esteem. 

And  so  it  was  that,  from  no  lack  of  sensibility,  no 
lethargy  of  appreciation,  more  than  twenty  years 
passed  by  while  the  national  summons  to  participate 
in  an  undertaking  so  honorable  remained,  not  un 
heeded,  yet  unanswered. 

But,  sir,  although  the  sway  of  nature  was  there 
longer  undisturbed  by  immigration  and  settlement, 
that  goodly  land  made,  in  fact,  its  entrance  to  the 
page  of  American  history  at  a  far  earlier  date.  In 
deed,  its  discovery  and  visitation  by  the  white  man 
had  much  precedency  in  time  over  many  of  our  sis 
ter  states  of  prior  establishment  in  the  Union.  A 
peculiar  charm  attaches  to  the  story  of  those  early 
days.  It  is  augmented  by  the  very  length  of  the  in 
tervening  period  before  the  settlements  of  civiliza 
tion  came,  during  which  the  activity  of  development 
elsewhere  increased  the  seeming  quiet  there.  This 
has  cast  back  into  even  deeper  shade  its  historic 
dawn,  and  thrown  upon  the  simple  facts  something 
like  the  twilight  hues  of  an  ancient  story.  But  four 
teen  years  after  the  Mayflower  sowed  her  precious 
seed  on  ' l  the  wild  New  England  shore, ' '  Jean  Nicol- 
let  paddled  his  canoe  through  the  rich  natural  rice 
fields  of  the  Fox  in  the  centre  of  our  present  borders. 

[184] 


Before  any  footstep  but  of  red  men  had  been  im 
printed  on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Alleghanies, 
"the  good  tidings  of  great  joy"  sent  down  through 
the  ages  by  a  crucified  Savior  were  delivered  to  His 
barbaric  children  of  the  forests  in  the  far  interior 
Wisconsin  land. 

It  was  Nature's  way  of  shaping  the  continent 
which  thus  lured  the  explorer  to  its  very  heart  so 
soon  after  settlement  was  begun  upon  its  borders. 
Once  upon  the  magnificent  waters  of  those  great  in 
terior  seas,  the  like  of  which  the  earth  does  not  else 
where  show,  a  fascination  irresistible  pressed  on  to 
their  fountain  head.  Side  by  side,  often  even 
hand  in  hand,  cupidity  and  benevolence,  with  daring 
hardihood,  urged  the  quest;  and  the  trader's  greedy 
courage  found  more  than  a  match  in  the  unfaltering 
hearts  who  challenged  the  horrors  of  the  wilderness, 
bent  on  no  selfish  aim,  but  wholly  to  rescue  the  im 
periled  souls  within  its  deep  recesses.  It  so  came  to 
pass  that  without  intermediate  establishments  of 
any  sort,  without  even  journey  posts  or  resting  sta 
tions,  or  a  white  man's  abode  along  the  entire  route, 
Christianity  had  her  missions  domiciled  in  Wiscon 
sin,  on  Lake  Superior  and  Green  Bay,  while  the  ad 
vanced  frontier  of  European  movement,  the  nearest 
settlement  or  residence  to  the  east,  was  a  thousand 
miles  away  at  Montreal. 

The  heavy  forest  stood,  in  primeval  majesty, 
stretching  to  the  prairies  of  the  Mississippi  from  the 
mountains  of  the  east,  and  not  one  of  the  coming 
race  had  ventured  once  within  its  awful  solitudes. 
Through  the  vast  woods  westward  from  the  Hudson 

[185] 


and  the  Delaware  roamed  the  merciless  Iroquois  in 
terrible  dominion,  the  scourge  and  destroyer  of  the 
savage  race,  the  Tartars  of  the  wilderness,  whose 
butcheries  multiplied  and  deepened  its  solitudes  and 
filled  them  with  perils  and  horrors. 

And  there,  sir,  in  the  deep  interior  of  the  conti 
nent,  on  whose  wild  primeval  surface  no  light  of 
civilization  cast  a  ray  save  the  flickerings  here  and 
there  begun  to  show  along  the  ocean  margin,  there 
in  that  vast  isolation,  that  "profundity  obscure, " 
the  lamp  of  Christianity  was  kindled  by  the  spark 
brought  from  Calvary,  and  its  gleams  burst  forth 
above  the  forest  gloom,  a  solitary  beacon,  presaging 
and  beckoning  to  the  oncoming  column  of  humanity 
soon  to  march  thitherward  in  trimphant  splendor. 
And  there,  sir,  slender  and  feeble  as  was  that  early 
flame,  and  though  amid  sometimes  distressing  vicis 
situdes  and  perils,  there  has  it  ever  burned  un- 
quenched.  There,  in  the  first  faint  gray  of  morning, 
a  Caucasian's  home  was  builded  and  church  and 
school  were  founded;  and  thus,  with  typical  step, 
civilization,  the  civilization  of  highest  evolution, 
made  its  advent  to  the  continent's  interior  on  the 
land  of  Wisconsin,  and,  in  a  sense,  Wisconsin  took 
also  her  beginning  as  one  among  civilization's 
grandest  forms  and  agencies,  a  self-governed  com 
monwealth  of  intelligent,  God-fearing  freemen. 

Among  the  shadowy  forms  that  move  on  that  far- 
off  scene,  touched  by  the  light  rosy  ray  that  tells 
of  a  splendor  coming  in  its  time,  among  the  brave 
who  dared  the  peril  of  that  morning  hour,  was  one, 
the  type  and  exemplar  of  a  noble  class,  fixed  in 

[186] 


human  honor  by  devotion,  heroism  and  sacrifice,  in 
whose  soul  burned  also  the  genius  of  the  explorer, 
the  glorious  greed  of  knowledge.  Short  and  swiftly 
sped  was  his  path  to  the  altar  of  self-sacrifice,  so 
often  the  goal  of  his  class,  but  his  few  hard  years 
were  enough  for  his  renown;  he  departed  for  the 
world  beyond  rewarded  by  the  fame  of  history  here. 
He  was  a  citizen  of  Wisconsin  only  in  its  embryonic 
age;  no  more;  but  otherwise  it  was  of  such  as  him 
that  Congress  spake  when  it  marked  for  this  special 
honor  "persons  illustrious  for  historic  renown." 

Wherefore,  Mr.  President,  the  legislature  of  Wis 
consin,  unwilling  that  a  state  which  yields  in  public 
spirit  and  intelligence  to  none  should  stand  no 
sharer  in  the  national  gallery  of  honor,  and  conceiv 
ing  the  true  sense  of  the  Congressional  plan  to 
comprehend  whatever  achievements  upon  our  coun 
try  's  soil  have  brilliantly  wrought  toward  its  pre 
destined  usefulness  to  man,  proposed  to  Congress 
that  Wisconsin  should  be  permitted,  at  once  and  to- 
gether,  to  recognize  and  honor  the  men  who  dar 
ingly  planted  there  the  first  abode  of  civilization; 
to  distinguish  and  illustrate  the  noblest  character  in 
the  vanguard  of  its  march — the  missionary  of 
Christ;  and  to  celebrate  also  a  famous  triumph  of 
geographic  exploration  from  within  her  borders,  by 
raising  here  the  marble  effigy  of  that  gentle,  de 
voted,  high-souled,  fearless  priest  and  teacher, 
James  Marquette,  the  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi. 

Well  knowing,  of  course,  that  the  original  invita 
tion  was,  for  the  reason  given,  not  literally  a  full 
authority  therefor,  the  consent  of  Congress  was  ex- 

[187] 


plicitly  sought.  Twice  the  legislature  of  the  state 
declared  itself;  by  its  act  of  1887,  and  again,  when 
its  Senators,  or  one  of  them,  hesitated  in  doubt  of 
its  true  desire,  by  its  joint  resolution  of  1893, 
" urgently  requesting"  those  Senators  to  secure  that 
assent  of  the  government.  And  Congress  twice 
responded  with  the  desired  permission.  At  first,  the 
concurrence  of  the  Senate  in  a  joint  resolution  of 
the  House  of  Eepresentatives  was  given  on  the  last 
day  of  the  Fifty- second  Congress,  too  late  for  execu 
tive  consideration  among  the  mass  of  crowding 
measures. 

The  next  session,  first  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress, 
supplied  the  failure,  and  by  joint  resolution  ap 
proved  on  the  14th  of  October,  1893,  the  State  of 
Wisconsin  was  "authorized  and  granted  the  privi 
lege  of  placing  in  Statuary  Hall  at  the  Capitol  the 
statue  of  Pere  Marquette,  the  faithful  missionary, 
whose  work  among  the  Indians  and  explorations 
within  the  borders  of  said  state  in  early  days  are 
recognized  all  over  the  civilized  world. " 

In  these  terms  the  Congress  testified,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  its  intelligence  and  appreciation  of  the  moving 
considerations  which  justly  award  to  this  mission 
ary  and  explorer  a  commemoration  among  the  his 
toric  characters  of  America.  The  choice  of  Wis 
consin  was  ratified,  and  the  free  interpretation  which 
carried  back  the  theory  of  citizenship  to  the  early 
movers  on  her  soil  found  approval. 

The  privilege  bestowed  has  been  exercised  as  it 
should  have  been.  By  universal  testimony  a  work 
of  art  unexcelled  has  been  erected  in  our  Hall.  The 

[188] 


representatives  of  the  state  feel  no  other  need  than 
to  say,  "Go,  view  the  artist's  work,  gaze  upon  the 
noble  figure  discerned  by  genius  in  the  Italian 
stone.  There  you  shall  find  the  ideal  we  would  com 
memorate;  a  noble  man,  with  a  soul  lifted  up  to  God, 
a  mind  inflexibly  bent  to  duty,  a  heart  swelling  with 
tenderness  toward  his  fellow-creatures,  so  surely 
treading  the  pathway  lighted  to  him  by  education 
and  conscience  that  suffering,  privation,  danger, 
death,  could  cause  no  shadow  of  turning  in  it;  yet 
still  the  gentle,  enthusiastic,  generous  man,  beloved 
among  his  fellows — the  man  to  dare  without  flinch 
ing,  to  do  without  boasting,  the  deeds  that  heroes 
do,  when  heaven  calls.'' 

Perhaps  so  I  might  leave  it,  confident  in  the  award 
of  credit  so  justly  due  the  good  state  I  love  for  its 
worthy  gift,  and  conscious  that  the  eloquent  re 
marks  of  my  colleague  and  other  Senators  have  left 
no  addition  needful  by  me. 

But  yet,  sir,  I  would  wish  to  contribute  some 
thing,  if  I  could,  to  distinguish  with  clarity  the 
figure  and  career  of  Marquette  from  confusion  with 
intermingling  persons  and  events  in  the  background 
of  history,  and  give  a  plainer  view  of  what  he  was 
and  what  he  did  by  drawing  to  the  eye  the  circum 
stances  in  which  he  stood  and  acted. 

For  the  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  in  1673 
the  Muse  of  History  has  recorded  his  name  to  stand 
forever  on  her  unfading  scroll. 

Yet  there  be  some,  perhaps  many,  who  see  in  that 
achievement  little  more  than  a  summer  ride  in  a 
bark  canoe  adown  the  beautiful  Wisconsin  Eiver,  as 

[189] 


if  it  were  in  the  sunlight  and  sweet  airs,  the  peace 
and  security,  which  the  student  tourist  of  our  day 
oft  delights  in  as  he  traces  again  the  famous  water 
path  of  exploration.  It  is  an  indolent,  thoughtless 
view.  Far  different  has  been — ever  must  be — the 
just  measure  of  its  character  and  merit.  A  strong, 
vivid  imagination,  capable  of  reproducing  the  facts 
collated  from  memorials  of  the  time,  a  penetrating 
sympathy  with  beliefs  and  modes  of  thought  then 
entertained,  must  gain  sway  in  any  mind  which  will 
realize  the  conditions  then  and  there  environing  and 
characterizing  human  effort. 

It  was  the  fruit  of  no  sudden  inspiration,  fortuit 
ously  conceived  and  hastily  executed.  Already  so 
far  sunk  in  the  immensity  of  forest  wilds,  with  hor 
rors  on  its  trail  and  terrors  in  front,  exploration  had 
for  a  period  halted  on  the  shores  of  Superior  and 
Michigan,  or  moved  but  little  in  adjacent  territory. 
Eight  years  had  passed  since  the  first  white  man's 
house  was  built  on  the  Bay  of  Chequamegon  to  give 
a  home  to  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  all 
that  undertaking  a  panic  of  terror  had  ruined,  driv 
ing  thence  backward  to  the  Straits  of  Mackinac  the 
converts  who  had  found  a  refuge  there.  For  in  the 
unknown  western  country  dwelt  the  Sioux,  mon 
sters  of  bloody  deeds,  the  constant  fear  of  all  natives 
within  reach  of  their  excursions.  Marquette,  then 
beginning  the  labors  to  which  he  had  consecrated  his 
life,  had  wrought  there  with  the  tribes  whose  sum 
mer  wanderings,  like  those  of  modern  tourists,  car 
ried  them  to  the  great  Northern  Sea.  Among  them 
the  Illinois,  who  told  him  stories  of  the  great  river, 

[190] 


long  before  then  a  misty  rumor,  a  far-off  unreality. 
It  fired  his  imagination  and  stirred  his  heart  with 
hope  that  craving  souls  in  other  lands  might  hear  the 
Gospel's  tidings  from  his  lips.  He  reported  to  his 
superiors,  opened  the  plan,  and  waited  obediently. 
It  required  years  before  the  answering  orders  fol 
lowed.  Then  came  Joliet,  with  five  other  French 
men.  Seven  men,  no  more,  were  thus  to  hazard  the 
unknown  regions,  of  which  no  native  spake  but  in 
notes  of  warning.  They  heard  on  every  hand  fore 
boding  tales  of  terror,  of  mysterious  and  dreadful 
dangers.  Monsters  would  be  found  in  the  waters, 
the  fiercest  savages  upon  the  lands. 

It  was  an  age  of  credulity,  and  the  stoutest  hearts 
quailed  often  before  chimeras  of  the  fancy  spring 
ing  from  the  dread  unknown.  Now  every  friendly 
tribe,  with  common  voice,  at  the  Green  Bay,  along 
the  Fox,  and  at  the  village  of  the  Mascoutins  and 
Miamis,  where  they  bid  adieu  to  the  last  frontier 
of  the  known,  to  the  last  friendly  face,  all  picture 
only  coming  peril,  with  supplication  to  change  their 
purpose.  Yet  on  they  pushed  their  way;  timorously 
at  times  we  may  well  imagine;  with  straining  eye, 
as  their  frail  canoes  swept  the  bending  curves  of  the 
Wisconsin;  with  hearts  that  sometimes  throbbed, 
but  unfalteringly,  resolute  of  purpose.  At  length,  a 
full  month  gone  since  they  started  from  the  Green 
Bay — the  traveler  now  needs  hardly  a  day — and 
there  it  rolled  before  them,  the  Father  of  Waters; 
there,  as  for  untold  ages  all  unknown,  the  majestic 
servant  of  nature's  mighty  plan!  They  had  found 
it!  For  nearly  forty  years  the  voyageurs  had  passed 

[191] 


the  tale,  the  mystery  of  Indian  report,  of  the  great 
water  in  the  West;  now  they  saw  it  with  their  eyes 
in  veritable  majesty! 

Mr.  President,  perhaps  no  man  without  experience 
can  bring  to  himself  by  any  effort  a  full  sympathy 
with  the  emotion  which  such  an  achievement  must 
stir  in  the  explorer's  mind.  The  long  dream  of 
meditation,  the  ripening  purpose,  the  fixed  plan, 
the  execution  begun,  the  hard  labors  done,  the  men 
acing  perils  met,  all  at  last  compressed  to  perfect 
fruition  in  a  single  moment!  Who  can  measure  it 
by  any  gauge  but  experience,  yet  who  but  must  feel 
it  worth  a  life  to  win?  The  judgment  of  the  world 
has  given  accordant  honor,  and  brightly  shines  the 
name  of  the  discoverer  on  the  temple  wall  of  Fame. 

Sir,  no  balance  can  invidiously  weigh  in  competi 
tion  the  variant  elements  of  merit  in  the  many  who 
have  lifted  the  veil  of  mystery  over  hidden  lands. 
One  star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory.  There 
can  forever  be  but  one  Columbus;  never  another  Ma 
gellan.  But  the  pages  will  never  want  for  readers 
on  which  are  written  the  stories  of  the  discovery  of 
the  Mississippi  and  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  nor 
fade  the  names  of  Livingstone  and  Marquette. 

Yet  this  was  not  discovery  complete.  They  knew 
well  their  duty,  and,  though  plunging  afresh  into 
the  depths  of  prophesied  perils,  on  they  fared,  out 
upon  its  wide  waters,  fearlessly  bent  to  know  the 
bounds  and  course  set  to  the  mighty  flood  in  the  plan 
of  the  continent,  to  carry  back  to  civilized  men  a 
broadened  field  of  knowledge,  a  new  map,  re-forming 
the  old  terra  incognita.  A  full  month  longer,  oft  in 

[192] 


dangers  great  and  real,  they  sturdily  and  bravely 
held  their  purpose  down  its  turgid  current,  among 
strange  lands  and  tribes,  and  marked  its  assured 
flowage  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Then,  their  mission 
fulfilled,  to  return  with  its  fruits  no  longer  jeoparded 
was  the  ensuing  duty,  second  only  in  importance. 

It  should  perhaps  be  noticed,  sir,  that  in  point  of 
fact,  as  men  now  know,  more  than  a  century  before 
the  Mississippi  had  twice  been  seen  by  European 
eyes.  Coasting  on  the  Gulf  in  1519,  De  Pineda 
turned  through  its  mouth  and  sailed  up  this  river, 
no  one  knows  how  far.  Wandering  over  the  conti 
nent  in  1542,  De  Soto  crossed  it,  near  the  Yazoo's 
mouth,  ascended  for  a  distance  its  western  bank, 
died,  and  was  buried  in  it.  Neither  event  gave  the 
river  to  the  world.  Where  it  was,  what  it  was, 
whence  it  came,  what  the  countries  of  its  drainage- 
all  were  untold.  Water  only  had  been  found,  a 
fluvial  mystery  unsolved.  Geography  had  gained 
nothing,  nor,  until  Marquette  had  shown  it,  was  the 
water  known  to  be  the  Mississippi  which  these  wan 
derers  had  seen.  Only  he  who  looks  on  past  events 
without  a  perspective,  like  a  Chinese  drawing,  con 
founds  these  transactions.  Nor  by  one  jot  or  tittle 
has  it  lessened  the  meed  of  honor  measured  to  Mar 
quette. 

It  is  to  this  historic  event,  Mr.  President,  that  the 
personal  distinction  of  Marquette  in  the  annals  of 
America  is  to  be  ascribed.  It  was  not  conspicuously 
gained  by  service  in  his  capacity  of  a  missionary 
priest.  Others  shared  with  him  the  excellence,  the 
labors,  the  sorrows  of  that  character  to  a  not  in- 

13  [193] 


ferior  degree.  But  Fame,  like  the  first  beams  of 
morning,  gilds  the  heights  of  singular  eminence,  and 
men  worship  most  the  victories  which  increase  do 
minion.  And  " Peace  hath  her  victories  not  less 
renowned  than  war."  It  was  his  geographical  con 
quest,  the  opening  to  man  of  a  country  unequaled 
in  capacity  for  his  enjoyment,  the  broad  and  splen 
did  region  of  the  Mississippi's  drainage,  which 
marked  him  for  illustration  by  succeeding  genera 
tions.  Mainly  this  it  was  that  affixed  his  name  to  the 
handsome  city  on  the  shore  of  Superior,  to  coun 
ties  in  the  states  that  adjoin  that  wide  water,  and 
has  led  to  the  erection  of  the  stately  figure  in  marble 
now  placed  in  the  keeping  of  the  nation. 

But  there  mingles  also,  sir,  a  just  respect  for  the 
heroic  messenger  of  Christianity  to  God's  children 
in  the  wilderness  which  has  entered  into  its  design 
and  will  share  in  the  commemoration  to  endure  in 
this  monument — may  it  be  for  ages.  The  statue  is 
itself  an  idealization,  yet  it  is  believed  so  natural, 
so  true,  that  every  detail  is  but  genuine  exposition 
of  personality  and  character.  If  the  artist  has 
thrown  into  the  beauty  of  the  face  the  look  and 
lineaments  which  tell  the  far  sight,  the  fixed  hope, 
the  unbending  courage  of  the  successful  explorer, 
they  comport  and  mingle  with  features  informed  by 
submissive  piety,  benevolence,  and  zeal  to  do  the  will 
of  God.  Sir,  the  early  missionary  to  the  Indian  the 
world  will  never  cease  to  reverence,  as  heroism  and 
goodness  must  be  reverenced,  however  differently 
the  light  may  fall  in  after  times  on  beliefs  and  meth 
ods  then  entertained  and  pursued.  Among  them  all, 

[194] 


of  whatever  church  or  creed,  Marquette  deserves 
place  with  the  foremost.  Not  that  the  effects  he 
wrought  were  great,  nor  his  experience  of  suffering 
unsurpassed.  Others  in  that  "  noble  army  of  mar 
tyrs  "  perhaps  accomplished  more  and  suffered  more. 
It  was  the  abundant  power  in  him  oft  and  fully 
manifested,  the  spirit  that  burned  within,  and  his 
sad  untimely  loss,  rather  than  shining  achievements 
in  his  few  years  of  labor,  that  give  his  prominence 
as  a  missionary  among  the  mission  pioneers. 

Mr.  President,  you  have  heard  in  the  appropriate 
and  interesting  remarks  of  our  colleagues  the  story 
of  his  career  pleasingly  told.  Who  that  listened  can 
picture  to  himself  the  conditions  which  then  beset 
the  devoted  wanderer  in  that  far  interior,  and  with 
hold  admiration  of  the  intrepid  self-consecration 
that  took  him  there  on  such  an  errand?  I  tried  a 
few  moments  since  to  draw  to  the  mind  by  some 
lines  the  superficial  picture  the  continent  then  pre 
sented,  the  helplessness  of  these  missionaries'  re 
mote  isolation,  their  necessarily  absolute  surrender 
to  the  fate  of  the  wilderness.  But  how  can  one  now 
depict  to  entire  realization  all  the  meaning  of  peril 
and  horror  that  resignation  then  implied  to  them 
who  ventured  on  in  the  very  light,  as  it  were,  of  the 
fires  which  had  consumed  their  martyred  predeces 
sors? 

For  bitter,  indeed,  had  been  the  missionaries'  ex 
periences  on  the  very  path  they  traveled.  Once  al 
ready,  in  the  wilds  between  Huron  and  Ontario,  the 
soldiers  of  the  cross  had  performed  labors  and  en 
dured  privations  the  tale  of  which  must  ever  excite 

[195] 


pity  and  admiration,  and  yet  their  catastrophe  had 
been  utter  and  horrible.  Through  sufferings  and  in 
dignities  that  might  have  rather  moved  despair, 
love  and  faith  had  bred  still  a  sustaining  hope. 
Never  was  its  light  more  awfully  extinguished. 
Their  unhappy  converts  first  were  decimated  by 
smallpox,  and  then  upon  them  fell  the  fiendish  Iro- 
quois.  Horrible  was  the  fate  of  all.  Massacre,  even 
to  annihilation,  swept  the  friendly  tribes — men, 
mothers,  babes — from  the  face  of  the  earth;  and 
death,  death  through  torments  inconceivable  but  to 
savage  ingenuity,  the  slow  exhaustion  of  vital  force 
amid  lingering  flames  while  agonizing  wounds  lacer 
ated  the  inflamed  flesh,  had  been  the  portion  dealt 
to  messengers  of  divine  love.  The  annals  of  heroic 
devotion  have  no  tale  more  pitiful  than  the  con 
stancy  in  duty  to  their  disgusting  pupils,  and  for  it 
the  awful  earthly  recompense,  of  the  faithful  fath 
ers,  Brebeuf  and  Lallemant. 

Such  was  the  present  example,  such  the  impend 
ing  menace — martyrdom  through  agony  unspeak 
able  for  the  missionary,  butchery  for  his  converts— 
that  lay  across  the  path  of  the  young  priest  of  29 
as  he  set  forth  upon  his  lonely  way  to  La  Pointe 
de  St.  Esprit,  on  the  Bay  of  Chequamegon.  And  to 
what  a  task  assigned!  Not,  like  the  voyageur  or 
trader,  to  plunge  licentiously  into  the  wild  Indian 
life,  rejoicing  in  its  freedom  and  adventure,  reck 
less  of  results.  The  Christian  missionary  met  those 
natives  to  challenge  their  habits  of  thought,  to  at 
tack  their  traditions  of  life,  to  rebuke  their  morals. 
Yet  his  appeal  was  to  a  spiritual  nature  of  which 

[196] 


they  knew  nothing,  to  hearken  to  a  tale  beyond  their 
understanding,  to  lift  them  beyond  the  only  world 
they  knew  or  were  capable  of  knowing.  At  first, 
perhaps,  he  might  win  attention  by  the  charm  of  nov 
elty,  attractive  always  to  the  savage  as  to  animal 
nature.  That  sway  was  but  momentary;  his  teach 
ing  necessarily  carried  reproof;  and,  gentle  as  he 
made  it,  few  of  those  coarse,  fierce  spirits  would  tol 
erate  it.  Their  frequent  return  and  sometimes  habit 
ual  usage  were  contumely,  ridicule,  indignity.  Dis 
gustful  alike  to  his  education,  breeding,  taste,  was 
every  close  contact  with  them,  and  nature  could  but 
rebel  against  the  duty  religion  enjoined.  Dependent 
on  them  for  the  means  of  subsistence,  his  privations 
were  often  severe.  Yet  he  toiled  with  unfailing  per 
severance,  inventing  new  devices  to  win  their  trust 
and  fix  their  minds  on  things  eternal;  always  to  en 
counter  backsliding  and  relapse,  and  ever  to  see  the 
momentous  truths  he  taught  fall  like  seed  upon  a 
stony  ground.  Whose  heart  must  not  melt  in  sym 
pathy  with  those  words  my  colleague  read  from  that 
letter  of  the  wearied  Marquette  to  his  superior  after 
the  ruin  of  the  mission  at  St.  Esprit: 

God  alone  can  fix  these  fickle  minds  and  place  and  keep  them 
in  His  grace  and  touch  their  hearts  while  we  stammer  in  their 
ears. 

Yet  bethink  you  with  admiration  of  the  unflag 
ging  zeal  that  in  so  few  years  made  him  master  of 
speech  in  half  a  dozen  various  native  tongues,  that 
he  might  better  strive  in  that  desperate  work  of 
salvation ! 

And  who  so  base  of  spirit  that  would  deny  the 
guerdon  of  fidelity  and  goodness  when,  sick  and 

[197] 


broken  with  the  malady  that  sent  him  to  his  grave, 
in  the  face  of  coming  winter  he  set  off  again  on  the 
long,  hard  journey  up  Lake  Michigan  from  Green 
Bay,  to  bring  the  healing  truth  to  the  heathen  souls 
among  the  Illinois,  who  loved  him  ?  The  event  real 
ized  the  gloomy  presage  with  which  the  journey  was 
begun.  That  testimony  of  the  faith  he  gave  as  a  dy 
ing  man.  With  return  of  spring  he  tried  his  last 
chance  for  life.  Borne  by  his  red  brethren  to  the 
shore  near  where  Chicago  teems  with  multitudes 
to-day,  he  was  launched  in  a  bark  canoe  with  two 
friends  to  paddle  the  long  way  to  Mackinac.  The  at 
tempt  was  vain.  One  day,  gliding  along  the  eastern 
coast,  he  recognized  his  summons  and  bade  them 
land.  They  sheltered  him  with  a  hut  of  bark,  and  he, 
beseeching  forgiveness  for  all  their  pains,  calmly 
ordered  the  particulars  of  his  burial.  Parkman,  to 
whom  we  owe  so  much,  paints  with  simple  eloquence 
the  final  scene : 

At  night,  seeing  that  they  were  fatigued,  he  told  them  to 
take  rest,  saying  that  he  would  call  them  when  he  felt  his 
time  approaching.  Two  or  three  hours  after  they  heard  a 
feeble  voice,  and  hastening  to  his  side  found  him  at  the  point 
of  death.  He  expired  calmly,  murmuring  the  names  of  Jesus 
and  Mary,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  crucifix  which  one  of  his 
followers  held  before  him.  They  dug  a  grave  beside  the  hut, 
according  to  the  directions  which  he  had  given  them,  then  re- 
embarking  they  made  their  way  to  Michillimackinac,  to  bear 
the  tidings  to  the  priests  at  the  mission  of  St.  Ignace. 

Mr.  President,  let  him  who  doubts  the  noble  ex 
cellence  of  that  good  man's  life  contemplate  the 
scene  enacted  on  that  coast  in  the  next  ensuing  year! 
Then  Nature  bore  her  testimony  unimpeachable  to 
the  wondrous  impress  of  his  goodness.  A  band  of 

[198] 


Ottawas,  seven  years  before  his  pupils  at  La  Pointe 
de  St.  Esprit,  repaired  at  the  bidding  solely  of  their 
hearts  to  that  lonely  grave,  with  tender  hands,  after 
the  fashion  of  their  fathers- 
Washed  and  dried  the  bones,  and  placed  them  carefully  in  a 
box  of  birch  bark.  Then  in  a  procession  of  30  canoes  they 
bore  it,  singing  their  funeral  songs,  to  St.  Ignace  of  Michilli- 
mackinac.  As  they  approached,  priests,  Indians,  and  traders 
all  thronged  to  the  shore.  The  relics  of  Marquette  were  re 
ceived  with  solemn  ceremony,  and  buried  beneath  the  floor  of 
the  little  chapel  of  the  mission. 

Sir,  was  ever  tribute  more  genuine  paid  to  king 
or  conqueror!  Could  proof  more  ample  be  of  the 
power  of  that  noble  spirit  who  had  thus  sent  the 
beams  of  human  kindness  through  the  hearts  of 
those  rough  savages  in  whom  he  saw  the  children  of 
God?  The  cold  marble  in  yonder  hall,  midst  all  its 
glorious  company,  can  testify  no  more  clearly  to 
a  character  fit  for  remembrance  than  that  wild  pro 
cession  which  in  the  genuine  reverence  of  nature 
moved  slowly  through  many  days  adown  the  waters 
of  Lake  Michigan.  God'e  eye  was  on  it;  His  spirit 
ruled  that  scene. 

Tell  me  not  of  creeds,  of  sects,  of  societies.  There 
is  a  greater  confraternity,  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
whose  fellowship  overrules  and  embraces  all  lesser 
societies  and  sects,  all  true  men;  and  nowhere  more 
than  in  this  land  of  man's  enfranchisement  ought 
its  triumphant  power  to  break  the  fetters  that  nar 
row  and  degrade  his  soul.  He,  who  could  so  stamp 
his  goodness  on  the  hearts  of  those  fickle  barbarians 
in  whose  ears  he  "  stammered "  the  precepts  of 
Christian  faith,  is  worthy  to-day  and  always  the 

[199] 


remembering  honor  of  all  true  American  manhood; 
and  will  surely  have  it. 

But,  Mr.  President,  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  now  a 
commonwealth  of  2,000,000  freemen,  rejoicing  in 
prosperity  and  happiness  on  the  soil  he  trod  so  long 
ago,  in  raising  this  stone  in  the  nation's  Hall  of  Stat 
uary  does  not  merely  celebrate  a  name  "illustrious 
for  historic  renown,"  a  character  whose  excellence  is 
worthy  of  perpetual  remembrance.  It  means  still 
more,  that  it  shall  stand  there  as  a  testimony  and 
monument  to  a  principle  of  our  social  order  of  the 
utmost  value  to  mankind — the  principle  of  religious 
liberty!  Sir,  human  intelligence  and  reason,  all  the 
history  of  the  world,  teach  no  more  useful  and  im 
pressive  lesson  than  is  embodied  in  that  funda 
mental  rule  which  draws  an  absolute  and  impassable 
line  between  the  affairs  of  state  and  the  affairs  of 
religion,  and  denies  to  the  social  law  all  right  or 
jurisdiction  to  transcend  it.  On  one  side  is  the  citi 
zen,  a  component  of  and  subject  to  the  state,  charged 
with  its  duties,  obedient  to  the  laws  within  its 
sphere.  Across  it  is  the  man,  the  creature  of  Al 
mighty  God,  His  worshiper,  His  subject,  amenable 
there  to  His  law  and  no  other. 

In  that  domain  man  is  entitled  to  enjoy  all  the 
liberty  of  nature  untrammeled,  unchecked,  unre 
strained  by  his  fellows  in  the  state.  There  he  stands 
lighted  and  led  by  his  own  conscience.  Thither  no 
human  law  can  follow  him.  If  the  potentate  of  hu 
man  creation  pursues  him  there  he  may,  he  must 
resist,  or  be  recreant  to  his  nature  and  his  God.  Un 
flinching  before  any  menace,  undaunted  by  any 

[200] 


power,  true  to  his  faith,  like  Luther  in  his  greater 
majesty  before  the  emperor  at  Worms,  he  must  de 
clare,  "Here  I  stand;  I  can  not  do  otherwise.  God 
help  me.  Amen. ' '  Sir,  this  is  no  rule,  as  sometimes 
miscalled,  of  toleration.  I  contemn  the  term.  I  deny 
all  it  implies.  It  is  the  right,  absolute,  uncontrolla 
ble,  of  utter,  perfect  liberty.  It  is  an  inalienable 
right.  The  coward,  the  willing  slave,  can  not  divest 
himself  of  it.  It  goes  with  him  in  his  bondage  how 
ever  recreant  he  be  to  nature.  And,  sir,  this  right 
attends  and  belongs  to  man  as  perfectly,  also,  upon 
the  social  side  of  the  great  dividing  line,  though 
with  a  different  effect.  He  does  not  lose  it;  he  re 
tains  it  there  in  full  perfection.  His  rights,  his 
duties,  his  privileges  as  a  citizen  in  whatever  his 
relations  to  the  state  and  society  comport  with  and 
are  independent  of  it. 

Sir,  he  is  wrongfully  despoiled,  his  right  invaded, 
a  grievous  injury  done,  when  to  any  man  is  denied 
any  part  or  share  of  his  social  rights  or  privileges 
by  reason  of  his  religious  faith.  If  property,  if 
place,  if  honor  be  his  rightful  due  among  his  fellows, 
he  who  strikes  aught  away  of  either  because  of  re 
ligious  opinion  is  an  enemy  to  law,  to  humanity,  and 
all  its  hopes.  Hostis  humani  generis. 

And  therefore  it  is,  sir,  that  this  statue  of  James 
Marquette  will  stand  as  a  monument  and  emblem  of 
religious  liberty.  The  noble  right  to  honor  and  re 
membrance  among  men,  which  the  legislature  of 
Wisconsin  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
have  declared  to  be  his,  he  is  not  denied.  It  is 
sacredly  preserved.  This  statue  is  raised  to  him  in 

[201] 


no  token  of  his  religion,  in  ascription  of  no  honor  to 
his  creed,  his  opinions.  It  invites  no  special  coun 
tenance  from  the  adherents  of  any  church  or  any 
creed.  Eegardless  of  all  these,  neither  with  favor 
nor  with  disfavor  to  any,  this  statue — ideal  repro 
duction  of  him  as  in  life  he  was — stands  to  the 
honor  of  the  discoverer  and  the  man,  the  testimonial 
of  a  people  who  rejoice  in  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
who  love  liberty,  and  who  guide  their  conduct  by 
its  precepts  without  a  shade  of  fear. 

Sir,  no  state  in  all  this  Union  can  more  worthily, 
more  honorably  support  this  attitude  in  the  presence 
of  the  nation  and  mankind  than  the  State  of  Wis 
consin.  There,  sir,  is  a  composite  citizenship  which 
mingles  the  blood  of  all  the  civilized  peoples  on  the 
earth.  Around  their  altars  gather  the  faithful  ser 
vants  of  God  in  many  and  various  forms,  of  many 
diverse  churches,  sects,  and  creeds.  Together  they 
abide  in  fraternity,  in  liberty,  enjoying  each  his 
rights,  trampling  not  upon  his  neighbor.  Nowhere 
is  order  better  maintained,  life,  person,  property 
more  secure.  Nowhere  does  benevolence  show  a 
more  generous  and  kindly  face  in  public  or  in  pri 
vate  care  of  misfortune.  Nowhere  is  education  more 
lavishly  supplied;  and  yet,  in  strict  observance  of 
the  rule  of  liberty,  every  shade  of  sectarian  instruc 
tion — removed  from  the  public  schools — is  left  in 
unfettered  freedom  to  the  schools  maintained  by 
conscience.  There,  too,  home  and  fireside  are  the 
centers  of  the  noblest,  sweetest  life,  the  sure  and 
safe  foundation  of  a  free,  intelligent,  powerful  state. 

Mr.  President,  no  people  more  intelligently  under- 

[202] 


stands,  more  devotedly  maintains,  the  basic  princi 
ple  of  freedom  to  which  their  testimony  is  thus 
borne.  They  believe  that  upon  it  rest  their  peace 
and  happiness.  They  will  defend  it,  if  need  be,  at 
any  hazard.  They  as  freely  accord  it  to  all. 

We  speak  for  no  single  class;  we  represent  no 
creed;  we  court  no  favor,  when,  sir,  from  and  for 
all  the  body  of  our  good  people,  irrespective  of  race 
or  opinion,  my  colleague  and  myself  thus  declare 
the  sentiment  which  actuates  our  state,  and  supple 
ment  the  action  of  its  worthy  governor  in  present 
ing  to  Congress  the  beautiful  statue  of  James  Mar- 
quette,  in  commemoration  of  his  just  renown  and  in 
illustration  of  the  light  and  strength  of  liberty 
among  men. 


[203] 


TRIBUTE  TO 
GENERAL  EDWIN  E.  BRYANT 

1904 


In  the  Fuller  Opera  House,  Sunday  afternoon 
(May  29),  Senator  William  F.  Vilas  paid  a  beautiful 
and  appreciative  tribute  to  Ms  friend  of  thirty  years, 
the  late  General  E.  E.  Bryant.  The  auditorium  was 
filled,  and  the  tender  yet  eloquent  eulogy  was  fol 
lowed  with  sympathetic  attention  most  sincere.  In 
a  corner  of  the  parquet,  at  the  front,  the  national 
colors,  folded  and  draped,  ivere  placed  by  the  patri 
ots  of  the  Lucius  Fair  child  post  of  the  Grand  Army 
who  came  in  a  body.  Deans  of  the  various  depart^ 
ments  at  the  university  occupied  the  stage,  with  the 
speaker,  the  university  glee  club,  and  Dr.  C.  R.  Van 
Hise  who  presided,  and  boys  of  the  law  school,  many 
score,  state  officials,  members  of  the  supreme  and 
other  courts,  of  the  university  faculty  and  of  the 
Madison  public  in  general  composed  the  hundreds/ 
who  testified  their  affection  for  the  distinguished 
dead  by  their  presence.  The  exercises  were  under 
the  auspices  of  the  university  faculty,  and  ivere  ar 
ranged  by  a  committee  comprised  of  Professors  R. 
M.  Bashford,  W.  A.  Henry  and  Storm  Bull.  The 
glee  club  sang  both  before  and  after  the  address. 
Senator  Vilas  spoke,  it  was  evident,  from  the  depth 
of  a  heart  deeply  touched. — Madison  Democrat. 


TRIBUTE  TO  GENERAL  EDWIN  E.  BRYANT 

A  COMMEMORATIVE  ADDRESS,  MAY  29,  1904 

I  address  you  at  the  invitation  and  on  behalf  of 
his  associates  of  the  faculty,  in  attempt  to  portray 
the  life  and  commemorate  the  excellence  of  Edwin 
Eustace  Bryant,  late  Dean  of  the  College  of  Law 
in  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  We  would  testify 
respect  and  affection  for  this  good  man  lost  to  us; 
regardful  of  his  faithful  labors  in  education  of  men, 
of  his  learning,  his  lofty  aims,  his  inspirational 
power,  his  noble  attributes  of  character;  with  love 
that  entwines  his  cherished  memory  like  a  blossom 
ing  vine,  rooted  in  his  rich  amiability,  and  redolent 
with  the  sweetness  of  his  soul.  The  tribute  will  be 
prosperous  accordingly  as  the  portrait  of  the  man 
shall  be  true,  his  doings  fairly  told.  For  he  needs, 
as  we  think,  no  ascription  of  virtues  not  undeniably 
his  own,  no  adjectives  of  mere  eulogy;  no  borrowed 
plumage  or  perfumed  speech.  He  shall  be  lauded 
for  no  majestic  greatness  of  intellect,  no  masterful 
stature  among  his  fellows.  But  in  what  he  truly 
was, — noble  in  spirit,  zealous  in  labor,  eager  for  use 
fulness  to  others,  gentle  and  sweet  in  intercourse, 
self-sacrificing  and  tender,  seeking  always  that  men 
might  be  better  and  happier  for  him, — there  will  be 
found  the  attributes,  in  riches,  which  must  worthily 
keep  his  memory  green.  What  matters  it  that  in 

n  [  209  ] 


not  all  things  lie  had  the  power  some  other  might 
possess;  that  in  not  all  undertakings  he  climbed  the 
possible  heights?  Be  sure  his  ideals  fell  not  below 
the  justest  aims;  be  sure  if  any  rose  higher,  it  drew 
not  envy  but  encouraging  cheer  from  this  honest 
heart,  whose  delight  was  in  good  things  well  done 
for  men. 

Our  purpose  is  no  obscuration  by  clouds  of  praise, 
but  to  limn  in  just  and  clear  perspective  the  true 
image  of  the  good  soul  which,  casting  its  earthly 
cerements,  has  obeyed  the  Master's  call.  Yet  my 
foot  trembles  on  the  threshold  of  trial  and  desire. 
For  he  was  my  intimate  friend,  and  for  more  than 
t'hirty  years  we  footed  the  path  of  life  in  close  com 
panionship.  I  loved  him;  I  know  he  loved  me. 

Beyond  the  holy  circle  of  family  and  fraternal 
tenderness,  none  other  ever  so  familiarly  permeated 
all  the  byways  of  my  aspirations,  purposes,  thoughts, 
and  work;  none  other  was  so  in  and  out  with  me, 
joyously  welcome  at  every  hour;  none  so  cheering, 
soothing,  helpful,  faithful,  so  honestly  to  rejoice  in 
things  approved  in  the  doing;  alas!  not  one  so  to  pal 
liate  shortcoming  in  ends  or  deeds.  What  would 
have  been,  must  be,  life  with  no  such  friend!  What 
a  boon  from  heaven,  at  one's  right  hand  to  have  such 
true  and  trusty  sympathy,  tender  as  woman's,  yet 
sturdily  strong  in  intellect  and  righteous  in  char 
acter  to  sustain  and  share,  with  unbending  spirit, 
the  projects,  studies,  aspirations,  yea,  indignations, 
which  the  problems  of  life  force  upon  every  stirring 
mind!  How  lighter  lie  the  burdens  of  care,  of  deep- 
moving  meditation,  when  there  is  a  yoke-fellow  in 

[210] 


trusty  intercourse,  of  power  to  comprehend,  to  pene 
trate,  to  share,  with  responsive  counsel!  Earth  can 
proffer,  beyond  the  bonds  of  domestic  bliss,  no  bet 
ter  joy!  If  bye  and  bye  such  ties  are  renewable,  the 
mortal  stroke  knocks,  indeed,  at  the  door  of  happi 
ness  and  heaven. 

The  risks  of  partial  fondness  I  dare  to  strive,  not 
withstanding,  to  avoid,  and  to  set  him  forth  as  he  in 
truth  was;  so  obviously  claiming  within  the  fact  that 
the  actualities  of  his  merit  none  can  believe  over 
drawn. 

The  recognition  will  be  ready,  I  conceive,  that,  in 
the  headship  of  the  College  of  Law,  Bryant  found 
and  performed  the  work  of  his  highest  usefulness, 
on  which  he  won  the  widest  esteem.  It  was  the  cul 
mination  of  his  life's  preparation,  led  up  to  by  his 
profession,  well  adapted  to  the  properties  of  his 
heart,  and  suited  to  the  acquirements  of  a  varied 
experience.  Besides  professional  practice,  he  had 
enjoyed  the  training  of  a  teacher  in  the  common 
schools,  of  an  editor  and  political  writer,  of  service 
in  public  office,  state  and  national,  and  won  by  his 
sword  in  his  country's  peril  that  lustre  which,  as 
the  sheen  of  gold  enriches  every  color  in  art,  glori 
fied  his  life  by  the  distinction  of  comradeship  with 
the  brave  and  patriotic.  I  recount  his  history  not 
only  for  its  interest,  but  in  development  of  his  mis 
sion,  to  carry  the  underlying  idea  of  adaptation  of 
means  to  end,  of  the  man's  production  through  en 
vironments  and  trials.  For  the  testimony  of  oth 
ers,  especially  illustrative  of  his  labors  as  dean,  I 
am  much  indebted  to  my  associate  on  the  committee 

[211] 


of  the  bar,  Mr.  Olin,  who  invited  from  many  former 
students,  with  good  return,  their  remembrance  of 
characteristic  anecdotes  and  deeds;  many  of  whose 
responses  I  shall  quote. 

Bryant  was  born  among  the  rocky  ridges  of  the 
Green  Mountain  state,  at  Milton  in  Chittenden 
County,  not  far  from  the  base  of  Hardscrabble  Hill- 
significant  name! — on  the  10th  of  January,  sixty- 
nine  years  ago.  His  father  was  a  Baptist  minister, 
one  of  those  combinations  of  strong  brain  and  good 
heart  so  many  times  shown  in  the  theologians  of  the 
long  period  extending  from  the  16th  to  the  earlier 
portion  of  the  19th  centuries;  men  who  expended 
enough  "gray  matter "  to  govern  a  state  in  differ 
entiations  upon  the  logic  of  the  plan  of  salvation 
for  human  sinners,  with  a  self-sacrifice  that  ought 
at  least  to  have  assured  their  own;  though  in  the 
judgment  of  the  unappreciative  worldly  with  results 
hardly  compensatory  of  the  talents,  the  toil,  self- 
denials,  and  generously  devoted  lives  expended  in 
their  production.  The  memory  of  "Elder  Bryant" 
still  survives  in  the  valleys  and  on  the  hillsides  of 
Chittenden  and  Lamoille  counties,  whose  traditions 
carry  the  loving  goodness  of  the  man  quite  as  well 
as  his  trained  skill  in  theology.  But  he  and  his 
household  were  the  not  infrequent  examples  of  such 
devotion.  With  but  a  few  hundreds  of  promised 
salary,  and  this  to  great  extent  the  regular  accumu 
lation  of  worthless  arrears,  besides  subjection  to  the 
annual  visitation  known  as  a  donation  party,  the 
poor  minister  picked  by  toil  from  a  few  rocky  acres 
the  crumbs  of  life,  and  cheerfully  scattered  abroad 

[212] 


the  loaves  of  salvation,  intrepidly  reliant  on  the 
promises  of  heaven  for  recompense  beyond  the  grave. 
It  was  always  a  treat  to  hear  Bryant  discourse  of 
these  boyhood  scenes  with  the  wit  and  tale-bearing 
skill  peculiarly  his  own,  when  often  the  indignant 
remembrance  of  injustice  and  distress  from  neglect 
of  the  minister's  dues  would  break  the  veneer  of 
forgiveness  so  well  laid  on  in  his  youth. 

He  lost  his  mother  in  infancy,  which  might  well 
have  sent  him  on  the  proverbial  road  of  the  minis 
ter's  son.  But  a  stepmother  took  her  place  whose 
excellence  and  tenderness  made  her  a  perfect  mother 
to  him,  won  his  abiding  love  and  devotion,  and  was 
recompensed  by  such  care  and  affection  in  her  age 
as  only  a  faithful  son  can  bestow.  For  when  the 
sorrows  of  widowhood  befell  her,  and,  in  aggra 
vated  affliction,  the  light  of  nature  was  withdrawn 
from  her  eyes,  this  good  son  hastened  to  her  side, 
brought  her  to  his  own  hearthstone,  and  with  gentle 
ministrations,  which  his  loving  wife  and  daughters 
could  so  well  assist  him  in,  gave  all  but  restoration 
of  sight — half  supplied  even  that — in  the  cheer  ing- 
happiness  brought  to  her  heart  through  many  re 
maining  years.  She  was  still  a  woman  of  sweet 
gifts,  worthy  of  such  love.  Grace  and  amiability 
characterized  all  her  intercourse,  which  a  strong  and 
instructed  mind  rendered  always  interesting,  and 
the  burden  of  her  care  disappeared  in  the  pleasures 
of  her  companionship. 

Elder  Bryant's  family  comprised  many  children, 
and,  straitened  by  such  narrow  conditions,  this  lad's 
boyhood  could  but  be  pinched  by  self-denials  and 

[213] 


tried  by  deprivations.  But,  after  all,  could  there 
be  a  better  education  for  labor,  character,  constancy, 
and  disposition?  With  a  father  who  knew  how  to 
instruct  and  edify  the  mind,  whose  unfailing  exam 
ple  was  a  constant  stimulant  to  excellence;  with  a 
mother  so  fitted  to  infuse  the  spirit  of  gentleness 
and  charity  with  the  power  to  do  and  bear,  it  may 
well  be  no  better  influences  could  have  moulded  the 
man.  It  is  at  least  the  fact  that  with  all  the  bodily 
wants  his  boyhood  encountered,  Bryant  never  car 
ried  the  reminiscence  of  mental  distresses,  or,  to  his 
most  intimate  friends,  ever  the  least  sense  of  any 
thing  but  regard,  respect,  and  grateful  affection  for 
his  parents  and  their  care  of  his  early  life.  So  far 
from  it,  his  memories  of  youth  were  happy,  and 
glowed  with  the  genial  humor  that  always  made 
them  delightful  to  hear.  The  mental  environment 
could  not  have  been  less  than  excellent  which  gave 
both  freedom  and  fun  to  so  many  incidents  in  the 
contacts  of  this  youth  with  the  world  about  him. 

Of  instruction  he  got  what  was  common  to  his 
time;  indeed,  more  than  the  average  which  youth 
then  enjoyed.  Passing  the  district  schools,  by  fath 
erly  care  and  personal  frugality,  he  traversed  the 
academy,  then  the  goal  of  most  as  a  finish  of  schol 
astic  training.  But  there  are  other,  and  in  some 
aspects,  even  better  forms  of  education  than  can  be 
taken  from  tutors.  The  favorite  New  England 
scheme  for  man-making  is  the  ordeal  of  the  district 
schoolmaster,  without  which,  many  savants  then 
maintained,  the  finest  traits  could  hardly  be  educed 
—no  doubt  a  valuable  discipline.  It  taught  the 

[214] 


young  fellow  from  the  academy  quite  as  much  as  he 
imparted;  demanding  self-perfection  in  all  he 
thought  to  have  learned,  training  him  in  resource 
fulness,  in  patience,  in  sympathy,  in  kindness,  and, 
not  infrequently,  in  courage  and  skill  for  govern 
ment.  In  rural  New  England,  at  least  in  the  gener 
ation  now  within  our  attention,  the  schoolmaster's 
experiences  of  the  school  room  were  varied  by  those, 
sometimes  more  trying,  of  "  boarding  around. "  For 
in  that  day  of  republican  simplicity,  school  patrons 
employed  the  teacher  as  their  "hired  man,"  for  the 
least  available  wage  and  subsistence  furnished. 
Therein  the  old  leader  in  the  law  especially  con 
ceived  the  young  hopeful,  whose  objective  was  that 
noble  profession,  gained  that  somewhat  indefinite 
but  supposedly  most  valuable  acquirement,  a  knowl 
edge  of  human  nature.  The  round  of  victualing 
through  a  winter's  term  took  him  to  nearly  every 
home  in  the  district,  far  and  near,  "for  richer,  for 
poorer,  for  better,  for  worse,"  to  encounter  the  vari 
ant  tempers  of  men  and  women,  youths  and  maidens, 
in  close  communion  and  familiar  trial.  To  some  the 
master's  visit  was  the  occasion  of  pride  and  genial 
distinction,  to  others  of  mere  indifference;  while  oc 
casionally,  if  but  seldom,  a  narrow  spirit,  even  more 
than  narrow  circumstances,  took  him  for  a  hateful 
tax,  begrudging  food  and  comfort  in  any  degree. 
There  was  sometimes  jealousy  of  maidens  or  envy 
of  stout  lads  to  vex,  and  surly  ill  nature  oft  imputed 
a  self-valuation  far  beyond  allowance.  Always,  too, 
the  district  authorities  to  be  reckoned  with,  and 
whimsicalities  of  opinion  at  times  as  arrogant  as  un- 

[215] 


of  education,  his  thoughts  turned  on  the  professional 
and  there;  but  at  their  best,  more  still  on  the  aver 
age,  the  district  school  was  a  " liberal  education'7 
to  the  master,  and  his  measure  of  success  or  failure 
a  prophecy  of  his  future. 

It  was  so  in  Bryant's  case.  He  then  displayed,  and 
then  fixed,  the  elements  of  disposition,  which  bore 
him  safely  through  his  trial,  and  ever  after  assured 
regard  and  good  will  from  all  worth  consideration 
throughout  his  days.  It  was  impossible  to  unkindly 
harass,  in  or  out  of  school,  so  genial,  sincere,  and 
zealous  a  helper  of  his  pupils;  so  resourceful  and 
ready  an  inventor  of  easy  aids  to  sluggish  compre 
hension,  so  good  a  friend  on  the  path  to  knowledge. 
Then  the  glowing  kindly  humor,  the  racy  wit  and 
story-telling  which  ever  commended  Bryant  to  com 
panionship,  gave  welcome  at  every  door.  As  ever, 
too,  in  after  years,  no  helpful  though  gratuitous  and 
extra  labor  found  him  in  the  slightest  reluctance; 
and  no  paterfamilias  of  the  farmstead  who  had 
yielded  his  heart  to  the  winsome  manners  of  the 
master  but  felt  a  deeper  obligation  when  the  even 
ing  hours  were  addressed  with  kindly  assiduity  to 
aid  his  children  in  preparation  for  the  coming  day 
of  school. 

So  it  was  with  a  sense  of  successful  achievement — 
justly  entertained — and  with  a  rich  repertory  of  ob 
servations  of  young  and  old,  which  his  humor  de 
ducted  all  the  fun  of,  preserved  for  many  a  merry 
narration  in  later  days,  that  Bryant  advanced  to 
graduation  in  this  useful  seminary  whose  diploma 
was  the  impress  of  character;  and,  with  such  a  course 

[216] 


of  education,  his  thoughts  turned  on  the  professional 
career  at  which  his  ambition  aimed. 

Having  now  attained  to  majority,  he  struck  out, 
after  his  fashion,  alone,  but  with  a  buoyant  heart, 
for  the  new  world  of  the  west,  in  search  of  his  fate. 
He  paused  a  short  space  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  but,  not 
falling  upon  inviting  signs  of  promise,  pushed  on  to 
Janesville,  in  Wisconsin,  then  possessing  a  galaxy 
of  legal  luminaries,  and  expecting  great  growth  as 
a  manufacturing  center. 

Here  he  began  professional  reading  in  the  office 
of  Ira  C.  Jenks,  meanwhile  again  teaching  for  sup 
port.  The  long  preparation  usual  in  older  communi 
ties  was  not  then  demanded  of  the  professional  aspir 
ant,  and  necessity  pressed  to  the  service  in  which  he 
could  rely  on  his  industry  for  special  equipment  in 
particular  emergencies.  He  was  admitted  to  prac 
tice  by  the  Circuit  Court  of  Eock  County  on  the  18th 
of  July,  1857,  chose  Monroe,  shiretown  of  Green 
County,  for  his  scene,  and,  removing  thither,  began 
the  same  season  the  lawyer's  career. 

He  soon  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  John  A. 
Bingham,  a  worthy  and  respected  lawyer.  Earely 
does  the  young  practitioner  shake  down  much  fruit 
in  his  early  efforts;  and  it  is  not  unfrequently  more 
misfortune  than  benefit  when  he  does.  No  profes 
sion  demands  of  its  neophytes  greater  constancy  in 
labor  and  purpose  through  slow  and  anxious  begin 
nings;  the  hard  road  of  hope  deferred  and  privation 
borne.  Bryant  had  no  claim  to  immunity.  He  came 
unheralded  to  favor,  with  no  recommendation  but 
that  best,  though  often  slowest,  honest  character  and 
talents. 

[217] 


Yet  evidently  he  enjoyed  a  reasonable  prosperity 
from  the  outset;  in  the  arena  of  gallantry  not  less 
than  business.  Two  years  sufficed,  not  only  to  pro 
vide  a  justifiable  income,  but  to  win  the  prize  of 
love's  ambition.  On  the  29th  of  June,  1859,  his 
marriage  with  Louise  Boynton  was  duly  celebrated; 
in  every  circumstance  a  happy  consummation  by 
which  a  favoring  providence  bestowed  the  domestic 
tranquility  and  joy  which,  for  forty-four  succeeding 
years,  blessed  his  industrious  life.  Happy  the  man, 
beyond  all  other  sources  of  life's  cheer,  whom 
heaven  wisely  guides  in  this  crisis  of  his  fate!  who 
finds  and  wins  what  God  saw  to  be  the  lack  of  his 
first  human  creation,  "a  helpmeet  for  him"  in  the 
trials  of  the  earthly  sojourn.  And  this  was  Bryant's 
undimmed  and  lifelong  light  and  joy. 

There  was  in  Bryant  a  natural  aptitude  for  litera 
ture,  of  which  I  shall  later  say  something  more. 
This  turned  him  to  newspaper  writing,  in  which  he 
indulged  more  or  less  all  his  years  in  mere  gratifica 
tion  of  the  propensity,  when  no  other  incentive 
spurred.  In  1860,  General  James  Bintliff  offered 
him  partnership  in  the  Monroe  Sentinel.  He  ac 
cepted  and  engaged  in  editorial  writing  on  that 
paper. 

It  was  a  fortunate  association.  Bintliff  was  al 
ready  known  for  abilities,  sound  sense,  and  nobility 
of  character.  He  was  qualified  to  guide  and  inspire 
any  young  man  worth  effort,  and  Bryant  derived 
from  him  an  uplifting  of  mind  and  spirit  for  which 
he  revered  and  loved  him  to  the  end  of  his  days. 
Some  time  later  Bintliff  also  joined  the  army  of  the 

[218] 


Union,  became  Colonel  of  the  22nd,  and  later  of  the 
38th  regiments  of  Wisconsin's  foot  volunteers,  and 
was  brevetted  brigadier  for  conspicuous  gallantry 
in  the  assault  of  Petersburg.  He  passed  away  a 
few  years  ago,  and  the  world  lost  one  of  nature's 
gentlemen. 

But  soon  the  delights  of  Bryant's  new-made  home, 
the  joy  of  upbuilding  prosperity,  the  plans  and 
dreams  of  young  manhood,  were  roughly  shattered. 
"Lo,  an  horror  of  great  darkness  fell  upon  him" 
and  upon  all  the  people.  War,  such  all-embracing, 
deadly,  relentless,  bloody  war  as  this  new  world 
never  dreamed  could  crash  through  our  fabric  of 
freedom  and  civilization,  broke  like  a  sudden  tor 
nado  upon  our  homes.  It  is  futile  to  try  to  bring  to 
realization  by  this  generation  all  the  dread  meaning 
of  it.  None  can  fully  share,  who  saw  or  felt  not  all 
the  agonies  of  it,  the  horror  that  darkened  the  souls 
of  patriotic  men.  That  all  the  glories  of  American 
liberty,  all  the  deeds  of  our  American  ancestors,  all 
the  hopes  of  freedom's  lovers  throughout  the  world, 
all  fond  expectations  of  civilization's  progress, 
should  so  awfully  disappear  in  the  chaos  of  disunion, 
while  strife  unceasing  should  build  altars  of  sacri 
fice  in  every  home,  and  bring  sorrow  to  brood  over 
every  hearthstone,  cast  such  gloom  over  the  land  as 
no  tongue  can  depict  and  few  imaginations  conceive. 
Then,  it  seemed,  the  Lord  of  heaven  spake  to  the 
men  of  America  "out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  of 
the  cloud  and  of  the  thick  darkness"  with  a  great 
voice.  With  tens  of  thousands  whose  deeds  immor 
tally  tell  the  nobility  of  American  manhood,  Bryant 

[219] 


heard  the  call  from  on  high.  Discarding  hope,  am 
bition,  the  joy  of  home,  he  sternly  followed,  took  the 
oath  of  enlistment  in  April,  1861,  and  was  enrolled 
in  the  ranks  of  his  country's  soldiery. 

Oft  and  again  has  their  tale  been  told,  their  glory 
lauded,  who  put  on  the  armor  of  liberty  and  union 
in  that  day  of  trial.  Yet  never,  never  can  the  noble 
theme  cease  to  swell  the  soul  of  manhood.  Their 
advent  to  the  scene  of  arms  was  hailed  with  scoffing 
ridicule  by  the  enemy,  here  and  elsewhere,  su 
premely  sure  of  their  lack  of  courage  and  qualities 
for  war.  Their  early  defeats,  natural  to  inexperi 
ence,  were  taken  for  the  presage  of  despair.  The 
monarchs  of  Europe  thought  their  opportunity  was 
come;  and  perhaps  but  for  friendly  Eussia — and 
may  this  people  never  fail  in  grateful  remembrance 
of  that  timely  friend,  whatever  her  misfortunes,  her 
enemies,  or  her  faults! — would  have  combined  to 
win  their  foothold  here,  as  Louis  Napoleon  alone  at 
tempted;  under  God's  providence  to  his  own  ruin! 
And  when,  gradually  true  to  its  cause,  and  taught 
by  bloody  instruction  how  its  valor  should  do  its 
perfect  work,  the  army  rose,  through  detraction  and 
croaking  prophecy,  to  stand  unsurpassed  for  disci 
pline,  courage,  deeds,  unconquerable  as  ever  heard 
the  trumpet  sound,  came  next  the  ominous  forecast 
of  destructive  turbulence  when  its  ranks  should  be 
broken  and  discipline  dissolved. 

Never  did  soldiery  so  confound  the  predictions  of 
the  astute;  never  was  so  unselfishly  led,  so  nobly,  so 
intelligently  inspired,  by  the  cause  of  humanity; 
never  more  self-sacrificing,  more  fearfully  sacrificed, 

[220] 


more  unquailing  through  error,  blood  and  loss;  until, 
at  length,  what  foreign  observers  reckoned  a  hope 
less  chance,  intelligence,  courage  and  loyalty  carried 
to  a  trimph  never  equalled  in  completeness  of  its 
good  for  men. 

When  now  we  look  upon  the  eastern  conflict,  be 
tween  two  emperors  leading  two  doomed  peoples  to 
divide  the  territory  of  a  third,  so  typical  of  war's 
ends  and  injuries,  the  contrast  of  our  saved  and 
splendid  republic,  the  fruit  of  that  army's  blood 
nourishment,  lifts  its  rightful  glory  among  the  stars. 

Destruction  is  war's  accustomed  work;  ours  was 
salvation,  re-creation,  enfranchisement.  And  in  their 
exultant  hour  of  conquering  power,  that  noble  sol 
diery  serenely  accepted  transformation  to  unobtru 
sive  citizenship  as  the  crowning  act  of  intelligent 
devotion  to  their  cause. 

The  flight  of  time  must  but  better  build  the  monu 
ments  of  its  honor,  and  increasing  years  raise  a  ten 
derer  anthem  above  the  graves  where  rest  their 
heroes. 

"How  sleep  the  brave,  who  sink  to  rest, 
By  all  their  country's  wishes  blest! 
When  spring,  with  dewy  fingers  cold, 
Returns  to  deck  their  hallowed  mould, 
She  there  shall  dress  a  sweeter  sod 
Than  Fancy's  feet  have  ever  trod. 
By  fairy  hands  their  knell  is  wrung, 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung. 
There  Honour  comes,  a  pilgrim  gray, 
To  bless  the  turf  that  wraps  their  clay, 
And  Freedom  shall  awhile  repair, 
To  dwell,  a  weeping  hermit,  there." 

No  special  detail  of  Bryant's  soldiership  is  requis 
ite.  It  differed  not  in  essentials  from  others  of  ap 
proved  excellence. 

[221] 


He  was  appointed  Sergeant-Major,  head  of  the 
non-coinmissioned  staff,  of  the  third  regiment,  be 
fore  it  left  the  state;  promoted  Second  Lieutenant 
of  Company  A  soon  after,  First  Lieutenant  the  fol 
lowing  year,  and  then  Regimental  Adjutant.  In  De 
cember,  1863,  he  re-enlisted  with  the  regiment,  but 
was  that  winter  sent  north  on  recruiting  service. 
He  was  made  Assistant  Provost  Marshal  and  re 
signed  as  Adjutant  in  June,  1864.  In  February, 
1865,  he  became  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  fiftieth 
Wisconsin.  War  was  still  flagrant,  but  this  regi 
ment  was  sent  to  the  Southwest,  and  saw  no  fight 
ing.  But  Colonel  Bryant  was  long  since  a  veteran 
soldier.  One  who  had  for  nearly  three  years  waded 
the  red  glue  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  with  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  mixed  often  in  such  skir 
mishes  as  our  now-a-days  soldiers  call  battles,  fought 
in  the  rear  guard  that  covered  Banks  down  the  val 
ley,  survived  the  bloody  fields  of  Cedar  Mountain, 
Antietam,  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg,  with 
the  applause  of  his  comrades  for  his  conduct,  needs 
no  words.  Like  a  ducal  title,  the  fact  tells  all. 

Resigning  his  commission  in  February,  1866,  he 
returned  to  his  practice  at  Monroe.  But  the  forum 
had  been  long  nearly  silenced  by  arms,  and  when, 
early  in  1868,  Governor  Fairchild  tendered  him  the 
offices  of  private  secretary  arid  Adjutant-General, 
his  necessity  accepted.  It  is  interesting  to  recall 
that  he  here  succeeded  our  distinguished  fellow- 
townsman,  John  C.  Spooner,  who  refused  longer 
withdrawal  from  the  professional  career,  doubtless 
conscious  of  his  intellectual  endowment  and  guided 

[222] 


by  a  fine  sense  of  obligation  to  its  giver,  even  if 
without  foresight  of  the  power  and  distinction  which 
have  been  his  reward.  Beyond  extending  acquaint 
ance  and  knowledge  of  state  affairs,  General  Bryant 
gained  little  from  this  post;  save  one  treasure  which 
he  warmly  prized,  the  lifelong  friendship  of  General 
Fairchild,  to  whose  person  and  memory  he  was  ever 
faithful. 

The  opportunity  for  professional  labor,  deeply 
yearned  after,  came  to  him  through  a  personal 
friendship  contracted  in  this  period.  On  New 
Year's  Day  of  1872, — Governor  Fairchild 's  term 
then  expiring — the  partnership  called  Vilas  &  Bry 
ant  began  business.  It  was  something  charming  to 
look  upon  the  burning  zest,  the  intensity  of  joy,  with 
which  he  addressed  himself  to  the  regained  tasks  of 
the  lawyer.  It  was  like  discovery  of  a  fountain  by 
a  desert-lost  traveler,  whose  "flesh  longeth  * 
in  a  dry  and  thirsty  land  where  no  water  is;"  the 
joy  of  a  captive  knight-errant,  restored  to  sunlight 
with  the  arms  of  chivalry  again  in  his  vigorous  hand. 
He  eagerly  cried  for  work,  work;  expressing  no  fear 
but  that  the  demands  on  the  office  might  not  tax  the 
powers  which  yearned  for  healthful  tension.  That 
desire  was  not  denied  satisfaction.  By  the  year's 
end,  when  he  had  rarely  laid  down  his  pen  before 
the  midnight  hour  for  repose,  he  pleasantly  con 
fessed  one  day  that  his  apprehension  of  idleness  had 
disappeared.  Yet  no  tasks  subdued  his  ardor  or 
wearied  his  disposition.  He  loved  toil,  almost  for 
its  own  sake;  at  least  always  from  the  sense  of  well 
doing.  I  have  seen  few  to  equal  him  in  this  spirit, 

[  223  ] 


especially  with  so  little  care  for  the  recompense  of 
pecuniary  gain.  But  they  were  prosperous  years 
which  ensued,  and  his  estate  gained  by  steady,  if 
moderate,  increase.  They  were  years  of  cheerful 
happiness,  the  brightest,  lightest,  cheeriest  years  of 
life  to  both  him  and  his  partner;  of  constant  toil,  not 
without  the  anxieties  of  the  profession,  but  carried 
on  the  bounding  vigor  of  mid-manhood  with  little 
sense  of  weight;  years  of  ripening  study,  ever-gain 
ing  strength,  firmer-growing  friendship  and  joy  in 
it;  the  time  of  fullest  life  if  not  of  highest  wisdom. 
At  midsummer,  1876,  Edward  P.  Vilas  was  received 
into  the  firm;  now  for  years  in  practice  at  Mil 
waukee. 

In  December,  1880,  Governor  Pound,  then  repre 
sentative  of  our  northwestern  district  in  Congress 
and  chairman  of  the  important  house  committee  on 
public  lands,  a  friend  who  well  knew  Bryant 's  value, 
solicited  his  aid  as  clerk  to  that  committee.  Pleased 
by  the  favor  of  this  distinguished  friend,  and  moved 
by  the  privilege  of  widening  his  knowledge  of  pub 
lic  affairs,  though  with  reluctance  to  yield  time  from 
his  profession,  he  accepted  and  held  the  post  until 
March  4th,  1883.  The  governor  writes  of  him  with 
earnest  affection,  saying:  "General  Bryant  was  one 
of  the  best  men  I  was  ever  privileged  to  know  and 
enjoy. " 

During  the  preceding  winter  the  general  had  pur 
chased  an  interest  in  the  Democrat  Printing  Com 
pany,  and,  on  returning  home  he  resumed,  as  editor 
of  the  Madison  Democrat,  a  vocation  to  which  he 
ever  turned  with  pleasure.  In  my  estimation  Bry- 

[224] 


ant's  gifts  were  more  addressed  by  nature  to  this 
pursuit  even  than  his  profession.  His  literary  taste 
was  intuitive  and  refined;  his  love  of  writing  great; 
his  sympathetic  nature  pointed  the  way  to  public 
appreciation;  his  skill  in  composition,  the  wit  and 
clarity  of  his  style,  continually  improved  by  his 
reading,  commended  his  fruit  to  the  choice  of  all. 
To  these  he  added  a  calm  and  well-instructed  judg 
ment  in  public  affairs,  purity  of  principle,  an  honest 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  an  indignant 
repulsion  of  everything  wrong  or  mean  and  a  capa 
city  for  studious  and  conscientious  labor  in  prepara 
tion  of  articles,  which  were  calculated  to  raise  him 
to  conspicuous  place  in  the  journalism  of  the  state 
and  country.  It  will  be  taken  invidiously  by  none  to 
say  the  truth,  that  he  advanced  the  repute  and  influ 
ence  of  the  newspaper  during  his  editorial  manage 
ment,  nor  to  add  my  own  opinion  that  had  he  per 
sisted  in  it  he  would  have  attained  recognition  un 
surpassed  in  our  state;  perhaps  not  a  few  will  accord 
it  upon  what  he  did.  Had  his  life  been  applied  to 
literature,  I  believe  his  eminence  would  have  been 
still  more  widely  conspicuous.  His  inclination  to 
express  himself  on  public  *  topics  abided  always,  and 
was  gratified  by  occasional  unavowed  contributions, 
often  brilliant  for  wit  or  pungent  with  good  sense, 
to  the  columns  of  various  journals. 

In  March,  1885,  he  accepted  the  office  of  Assistant 
Attorney-General  for  the  postoffice  department  of 
the  United  States,  in  which  he  served  throughout 
the  first  administration  of  President  Cleveland,  re 
signing  to  Mr.  Wanamaker,  Postmaster  General  in 

[225] 


the  cabinet  of  General  Harrison.  He  was  peculiarly 
qualified  for  it.  It  demanded  continuous  industry, 
judicial  temper,  sound  perception  of  the  law  govern 
ing  the  service,  integrity  of  devotion  to  public  inter 
ests,  untiring  patience;  and  none  could  better  bring 
them  to  it.  His  duty  extended  to  legal  questions 
touching  the  whole  range  of  departmental  authority, 
but  so  numerous  were  the  cases  of  loss  by  postmas 
ters  from  fire  and  theft,  that  he  wittily  declared  his 
office  to  be  the  "department  of  conflagration  and 
burglary. ' ' 

To  say  that  he  discharged  his  duty  well,  but  faintly 
tells  the  just  meed  of  praise  he  fairly  won.  I  be 
lieve  the  functions  of  the  place  were  never  more 
adequately  met.  Nothing  was  neglected,  no  task 
despised,  and  no  care  for  hours  crossed  his  assiduous 
attention  to  its  requirements.  Night,  not  less  than 
day,  found  him  addressed  to  its  demands  whenever— 
and  that  frequently — they  pressed  upon  him.  In  his 
integrity  and  shrewd  perception,  absolute  safety 
was  assured  against  every  invasion  of  fraud,  deceit 
or  base  influence.  No  suspicion  of  wrong  or  irregu 
lar  motive  ever  impugned  the  purity  of  the  public 
reasons  which  inspired  his  opinions  and  acts;  and 
all  suitors  came  to  see  their  best  chance  of  success 
lay  in  the  simplest  presentation  of  the  just  and  law 
ful  reasons  for  it.  As  courage  in  the  soldier,  so  rec 
titude  in  the  public  officer  is,  to  be  sure,  the  justly- 
demanded  virtue  upon  which  all  character  and  serv 
ice  ought  to  rest;  and  peradventure,  therefore,  this 
should  be  said  to  be  small  praise,  I  grant  it,  without 
question.  And  yet,  in  this  day,  when  such  effluvia  of 

[226] 


corruption  offend  the  public  sensibility,  when  his 
immediate  successor  has  undergone  trial  upon  in 
dictment  of  a  grand  jury  of  misdemeanors  in  that 
very  office,  although  recently  acquitted,  the  chastity 
of  Bryant's  career  in  it,  untouched  by  the  breath  of 
suspicion,  may  well  lend  some  tone  to  the  true  note 
of  his  high  merit. 

It  was,  indeed,  to  have  been  anticipated  that  his 
unfailing  courtesy  and  geniality  would  command 
esteem  from  his  associates  in  the  department.  Far 
beyond  that  bound,  he  won  their  affection  as  well. 
Compelled  sometimes  to  differ  in  judgment,  yet  his 
kindness  in  difference  left  no  pain;  while  his  gentle 
helpfulness  to  all,  his  winsome  urbanity,  merry  wit 
and  good  heart  fixed  universal  attachment.  Though 
years  so  many  have  swept  over  that  scene,  I  know 
that  still  remained  there  those  of  that  association 
whose  love  follows  him  to  the  bourne  of  all  human 
ity  with  undenied  tenderness. 

Early  in  1889  President  Chamberlin  was  seeking 
a  dean  for  the  College  of  Law.  Applying  to  me  to 
take  the  post,  I  pointed  to  Bryant  as  a  prize.  Sena 
tor  Spooner,  who  intimately  knew  his  fitness,  cor 
dially  joined  in  effective  commendation;  and  when 
the  General  came  home  on  the  first  of  May,  the 
crowning  work  of  his  life  stood  assigned  to  him.  His 
labor  of  preparation  began  at  once;  his  instructional 
service  with  the  opening  of  the  University  in  the 
autumn  of  1889.  Fourteen  years  of  unbroken  con 
tinuity  followed;  how  ardent,  severe  and  self- 
sacrificing,  few  beyond  his  household  circle  entirely 
realized.  I  sometimes  admonished  him  that  his  ap- 

[227] 


plication  was  excessive,  but  with  small  effect.  His 
devotion  was  not  simply  conscientious;  he  burned 
with  appreciation  of  the  high  duty  his  position  de 
manded  for  usefulness  to  the  University  and  the 
profession.  He  saw  its  possible  value  to  others  far 
beyond  a  gratification  of  personal  ambition;  to  be 
worthy  in  it,  indeed,  was  all  his  ambition,  deeply 
feeling  it  to  offer  his  last  and  noblest  life  perform 
ance.  And  he  felt  the  due  measure,  and  chiefest 
means,  to  success  in  it,  was  assiduous,  untiring  in 
dustry,  to  work  with  all  his  might,  to  make  avail  of 
the  utmost  limit  of  his  talents.  He  never  paused  to 
inquire  what  might  be  demanded  of  him,  what  would 
be  taken  as  satisfactory  by  the  governing  authori 
ties.  The  simple  question  was,  How  can  I  do  more 
to  promote  the  good  end? 

This  fervor  of  spirit  was  well  illustrated  in  his  as 
sumption  of  a  class  at  the  capitol.  It  happened  that 
there  were  many  ambitious  youths  in  the  state's 
clerical  service  who  desired  instruction  in  the  law, 
but  were  denied  by  their  employment  attendance  by 
day  upon  the  lectures  of  the  College  of  Law.  One  of 
them,  W.  F.  Dockery,  now  resident  in  St.  Louis,  may 
tell  the  story: 

"In  the  fall  of  1891,  some  fifteen  of  the  employes 
about  the  state  capitol,  I  being  one,  resolved  to  read 
law.  Our  duties  made  it  impossible  to  attend  lec 
tures  on  the  hill.  Plans  to  secure  the  services  of 
various  lawyers  and  judges  in  the  city  to  direct  us 
in  our  work  were  suggested.  After  investigating, 
our  committee  reported  the  outlook  for  getting  us 
on  a  working  basis  as  discouraging.  Finally,  the 

[228] 


committee  waited  on  Dean  Bryant  for  suggestions 
on  ways  and  means,  not  for  a  moment  expecting  his 
services.  Without  a  moment's  hesitation  or  appa 
rent  thought  of  the  additional  labors  he  was  assum 
ing,  he  said:  'Go  back  and  tell  the  boys  I  will  see 
them  through  myself.'  We  were  jubilant;  the  way 
to  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  the  legal  profession 
seemed  cleared  of  all  obstacles.  Daily  for  two  years 
he  met  us  at  the  capitol,  and  helped  us  over  the  hard 
places  of  the  law.  Often  he  was  well  nigh  exhausted 
with  the  burden  of  the  day,  but  there  was  always 
that  genial  smile  and  that  kindly  light  in  the  eye 
which,  with  the  youngster,  never  fails  to  put  dis 
couragement  to  flight.  As  for  remuneration,  he 
would  have  none  of  it.  '  The  pleasure  it  gives  me  to 
help  you  up  the  first  few  rounds  of  a  great  profession 
is  worth  more  than  gold  and  silver  to  me,'  was  his 
reply."  And  Mr.  Dockery,  with  other  comment, 
adds:  "Not  the  least  of  the  benefits  we  got  out  of 
our  law  course  was  the  opportunity  of  knowing  so 
sunny  and  lovable  a  personality."  The  story  is 
characteristic.  Appeal  to  his  generous  enthusiasm 
was  never  vain. 

The  auxiliary  service  so  inaugurated,  he  contin 
ued  long.  It  severely  wore  upon  nervous  energy. 
He  pursued  it  with  doubtful  wisdom,  sacrificing 
hours  demanded  by  nature  for  vital  reparation,  and 
was  compelled  at  last  to  yield.  But  that  was  Bry 
ant — striving  to  exhaustion. 

And  likewise  illustrative  was  his  dealing  with  the 
receipts — amounting  to  many  hundreds  of  dollars— 
which  his  beneficiaries  voluntarily  contributed  dur- 

[229] 


ing  those  years,  in  return  for  the  toilsome  service. 
He  refused  them  for  himself,  however  justly  his,  un 
willing  to  stain  the  purity  of  his  self-sacrifice,  and 
applied  all  to  enlargement  of  the  library  of  the  col 
lege,  the  needs  of  which  the  annual  legislative  ap 
propriation  too  slowly  supplied. 

His  sympathy  with  young  men  was  exquisitely 
keen  and  tender.  He  warmed  with  admiration  and 
pride  to  all  whose  aptitude  and  progress  gave  prom 
ise;  to  those  of  good  parts  but  slow  comprehension 
he  was  patient,  inventive  of  suggestion,  fertile  in 
illustration,  inspiring;  and  to  them  naturally  weaker 
yet  sincerely  ambitious  of  learning,  he  was  consid 
erate  and  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  aid;  always,  to  a 
degree  nowadays  unusual,  perhaps,  ready  to  address 
himself  to  the  needs  of  any  individual  student. 
Nothing  seemed  to  distress  him  more — when  he  con 
fided  to  me  sometimes  these  peculiar  trials — than  his 
perception  of  duty,  reluctantly  admitted,  to  advise  a 
student  that  he  had  mistaken  his  calling  from  in 
herent  inaptitude  for  the  profession; — nothing  save 
one  thing,  the  toils  of  poverty  involving  a  youth  of 
talents  and  character.  This  wrung  him  painfully. 
He  would  not  bear  the  doom  of  "hearts  once  preg 
nant  with  celestial  fire"  depictured  by  the  poet,  that 

Knowledge    to    their   eyes,   her   ample   page, 
Rich  with  the  spoils  of  time,  did  ne'er  unroll. 

Chill   penury    repressed   their   noble  rage, 
And  froze  the  genial  current  of  the  soul. 

To  such  his  ready  purse  flew  open,  as  many  a  youth 
might  tell. 

A  lawyer,  now  established,  writes:  "I  had  a  posi 
tion  from  which  I  should  receive  my  pay  about  the 

F  230  ] 


20th  of  November,  but  entered  the  law  school  with 
out  the  funds  for  tuition,  etc.,  and  attended  classes 
for  several  days.  The  associate  dean  announced  to 
the  class  two  or  three  times  that  those  whose  tuition 
was  unpaid  would  be  excluded  from  classes  after  a 
certain  date,  and  finally  all  but  I  had  paid.  Mr. 
Gregory  called  me  to  his  office,  (pursuing  the  rule 
necessarily  enjoined  by  the  regents)  and  informed 
me  that  though  I  might  have  a  valid  excuse  in  ex 
pecting  the  money,  yet  he  could  not  consider  it,  and  I 
must  remain  from  classes  till  my  pay  day.  I  told  him 
I  was  sorry,  but  had  no  credit  in  Madison  and  left 
the  office.  The  dean's  private  secretary  came  to  the 
hall  stairway  and  called  me  back  to  his  office.  There, 
General  Bryant,  saying  he  had  overheard  the  conver 
sation  because  the  communicating  door  was  ajar, 
told  me  he  was  always  willing  to  divide  with  a  man; 
there  was  no  necessity  for  my  staying  from  class, 
wrote  his  personal  check,  directed  me  to  present  it 
to  Secretary  Eiley,  and  when  I  got  my  money  I  could 
pay  him.  He  refused  a  note,  and  when  I  paid  him 
he  would  not  listen  to  my  thanks. ' ' 

Another  writes :  * '  I  was  working  my  way  through 
the  law  school,  had  a  position  down  town,  paying  a 
small  amount  monthly.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sec 
ond  year  I  had  saved  but  half  of  the  fifty  dollars 
tuition.  I  asked  the  Dean  to  accept  half  and  wait 
for  the  balance.  He  said  the  matter  was  beyond  his 
jurisdiction.  'But,'  he  said,  'come  to  my  house  in 
the  evening  and  I'll  give  you  a  check  for  fifty  dol 
lars  and  you  can  let  me  have  it  back  when  able.' 
I  had  been  a  little  nervous  during  the  interview,  and 

[  231  ] 


when  the  dear  old  man  laid  bare  his  affection  for  me 
in  that  generous  way,  the  quick  tears  sprang  and  the 
rest  of  the  interview  was  hurried  and  short.  I 
thanked  him  as  best  I  could  and  got  out.  I  made 
other  arrangements  to  pay  the  tuition,  and  might 
have  thought  the  offer  lightly  made  had  I  not  met 
the  General  in  the  hallway  two  days  later,  when  he 
drew  me  to  a  corner,  put  his  arms  across  my  shoul 
ders,  and  said:  'You  haven't  been  up  to  get  that 
check/  I  explained;  and  he  assured  me  I  must  al 
ways  feel  that  when  in  difficulties  I  could  come  to 
him;  he  was  always  ready  to  help  'his  boys.'  ' 

That  was,  indeed,  but  simple  truth.  His  benefac 
tions  were  many;  nor  ever,  I  think,  did  deserving 
student  lack  his  aid.  These  contributions  sometimes 
"fell  on  stony  ground;"  but  mistakes  did  not  impair 
the  flow  of  his  sympathy  or  help. 

Another  form  of  its  manifestation  was  the  sur 
render  of  vacation  rest  in  aid  of  some  behind  in 
work,  or  who,  from  necessity,  sought  graduation  in 
less  than  the  prescribed  time. 

An  instance  from  one  such :  l '  During  the  summer 
vacation  of  1890,  I  with  fourteen  other  law  students 
put  in  three  months  with  Dean  Bryant  at  his  resi 
dence,  receiving  private  instruction,  so  that  we 
might  pass  the  examination  for  advancement  to  the 
senior  class  the  following  year.  Of  course  we  all 
expected  to  pay  for  his  time  and  trouble,  but  he  ab 
solutely  refused  to  accept  any  compensation,  saying: 
1 1  was  a  poor  boy  once  and  know  how  hard  it  is  to 
get  started  in  life. '  So  we  all  chipped  in  and  bought 
him  a  revolving  bookcase,  which,  by  the  way,  he  was 

[232] 


badly  in  need  of,  and  arranged  to  have  it  delivered 
during  our  last  recitation  at  his  house.  It  was 
brought  in  and  presented  by  one  of  the  boys,  and  I 
shall  never  forget  the  scene.  Tears  trickled  down 
General  Bryant's  cheeks,  and  he  was  so  overcome  by 
emotion  that  he  was  unable  to  respond  without  con 
siderable  effort.  I  am  sure  Dean  Bryant  prized  this 
small  token  from  the  boys  more  than  he  would  a 
money  consideration  for  his  services/' 

The  truth  of  that  last  remark,  both  in  the  special 
instance  and  in  general,  I  happen  well  to  know. 
Pecuniary  hire  could  not  have  induced  the  surrender 
of  his  vacation  rest,  and  he  would  have  felt  himself 
debased  by  it;  yet  his  heart  revelled  in  the  affection 
ate  regard  of  these  young  men,  so  testified. 

Another  like  practice  was  to  help  them  who  found 
some  topic  difficult,  by  holding,  in  addition  to  the 
regular  lecture,  a  special  afternoon  or  evening  ses 
sion  in  their  aid  who  desired  it;  inviting  their  ques 
tions  and  clearing  misapprehensions.  Mental  short 
coming  ever  provoked  his  patience  and  pity,  not  his 
censure.  In  the  same  spirit  he  followed  the  careers 
of  his  young  men  after  graduation,  inviting  their 
recourse  to  him  in  difficulties.  I  quote  from  one  of 
them  in  illustration: 

"  Early  in  my  practice  I  was  retained  by  an  ar 
chitect  who  had  prepared  plans  for  a  residence  for 
his  client,  and  the  client,  after  building  his  house, 
handed  the  plans  to  another  who  also  built  a  house 
after  them;  and  the  question  was  whether  the  archi 
tect  was  entitled  to  a  lien  on  the  last  mentioned  house 
for  the  plans  used  in  its  construction.  I  could  find 

['233  ] 


no  cases  touching  the  point,  and  in  my  desperation 
wrote  Dean  Bryant  for  advice.  I  have,  from  his 
own  hand,  a  brief  covering  the  point,  which  he  had 
prepared  with  considerable  care,  and  would  accept 
no  compensation  for. " 

Like  many  another  strong  and  kindly  nature, 
Bryant  had  rare  talent  for  humor,  waggery  and  racy 
story-telling,  and  a  genius  for  oddities  to  exemplify 
a  point  he  wished  to  impress.  The  moot  cases  he 
devised  were  often  attractive  for  the  ingenuity  and 
quaintness  of  the  facts  stated  to  educe  the  point  for 
debate,  giving  additional  charm  to  their  discussion. 
This  faculty  seemed  omnipresent  with  him,  issuing 
in  continual  merry  or  grotesque  expression,  and  lend 
ing  peculiar  delight  to  his  conversation  and  inter 
course. 

Were  all  his  wit  and  waggeries  collected  they 
would  fill  volumes.  One  writes  that  the  Dean  once 
handed  him  a  small  parcel  of  butter,  desiring  him  to 
feed  the  associate  dean's  canary.  "I  found  the  tilt 
ing  chair  which  the  associate  dean  used  in  the  ad 
joining  office  creaked  with  a  grating  sound  that  an 
noyed  him,  and  he  wanted  me  to  grease  it. ' ' 

In  the  classroom  this  penchant  served  sometimes 
to  cloak  a  criticism  or  rebuke,  which  his  tenderness 
led  him  to  intimate  as  gently  as  possible.  Discov 
ering  one  day  that  somnolence  had  overcome  one  of 
his  audience,  he  paused,  and,  after  expectant  waiting 
by  the  class,  he  softly  said:  "The  learned  Johnson 
sleeps."  Needless  to  add,  he  slept  no  longer. 

On  another  such  occasion,  espying  one  put  to  rest 
by  the  balmy  warmth  of  the  morning,  relates  a  wit- 

[234] 


ness  of  it:  "A  sudden  lull  took  place  in  the  rapid 
fire  of  questions,  and  the  Dean  looked  over  his  spec 
tacles.  He  began  to  smile  and  said: 

Our  Elver's  asleep  by  the  murmuring  stream, 
Flow  gently  dull  lecture,  disturb  not  his  dream. 

The  ensuing  laughter  brought  the  man  to  his  feet, 
crying:  "I  beg  your  pardon,  General,  but— 
"That's  all  right,"  interrupted  the  Dean,  "your 
apology  is  accepted,  but  don't  let  it  happen  again." 
He  remarked  another  day,  with  a  geniality  that  took 
away  all  sting,  of  one  whose  baptismal  name  was 
Jeremiah,  that  if  a  certain  member  of  the  class  did 
not  take  more  care  in  study,  there  would  be  a  new 
edition  of  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah. 

To  one  whose  apology  was  inability  to  remember, 
though  he  had  studied  hard,  the  Dean  suggested 
that  he  write  what  he  learned  to  fix  it  in  memory. 
But  failing  again,  the  student,  being  asked  why  he 
did  not  write,  replied  he  did  and  even  then  had  the 
written  lesson  in  his  pocket.  Then  Bryant  told  a 
story  of  two  counsels,  one  of  herculean  size,  the  other 
a  pigmy,  contending  in  court,  when  the  former  said 
scornfully, ' '  I  could  put  you  in  my  pocket. "  il  Yes, ' ' 
retorted  the  little  one,  "but  if  you  did,  you  would 
have  more  law  in  your  pocket  than  in  your  head." 
Whereupon,  writes  our  correspondent,  one  student 
smiled,  the  rest  laughed. 

He  could  take,  as  well  as  give,  a  joke.  Mr.  Con- 
way,  practicing  at  Lansing,  Iowa,  tells  that  the  Dean 
one  day  asked,  for  registration,  the  full  Christian 
and  surname  of  each  member  of  the  class.  "When 
asked,  I  arose  and  gave  the  full  name,  James  Pat- 

[  235  ] 


rick  Conway.  Scarcely  was  the  second  name  uttered 
when  the  class  roared.  The  Dean,  smiling,  said: 
'That  name  designates  its  origin;  not  so  with  many 
of  yours. '  The  next  Hibernian,  apparently  to  avoid 
the  laugh,  arose  and  answered,  *  Thomas  M.  Casey.7 
'What  does  the  M  stand  for?'  sternly  inquired  the 
Dean.  'For  designation,  Sorr,'  replied  Casey,  and 
the  Dean  seemed  to  enjoy  the  laugh  at  his  expense 
as  much  as  the  others." 

His  propensity  for  anecdote  and  waggery  in  the 
class  room  has  been  criticised,  and  may  have  some 
times  reached  a  slight  excess;  but  it  was  a  fault  on 
virtue's  side.  The  habit  sprang  far  more  from  de 
sire  to  inculcate  principle  by  taking  illustration,  or 
relieve  the  tedium  of  plodding  study,  than  from 
thought  of  self-exploitation.  It  sprang  from  his 
kindness,  and  nothing  pained  him  more  than  occa 
sion  for  severity.  But  he  could,  in  necessity,  apply 
a  severe  measure  of  discipline,  though  with  distress. 
One  truthfully  says:  "The  Dean's  good  nature  was 
his  greatest  weakness,  and  students  not  infrequently 
took  advantage  of  it.  I  was  never  quite  certain 
whether  he  could  see  and  hear  so  poorly  as  he  seemed 
at  times,  or  whether  he  purposely  let  many  things 
pass  unnoticed.  Yet  sometimes  he  would  administer 
so  scathing  a  rebuke  that  it  made  the  most  shame 
less  feel  ashamed.  When  they  saw  the  Dean's  feel 
ings  had  really  been  hurt,  the  boys  took  it  deeply  to 
heart,  and  would  respect  his  wishes.  But  he  never 
could  rebuke  the  class  or  individuals  without 
smoothing  it  over  by  telling  a  story. ' ' 

It  is  a  trying  problem  for  the  most  skillful  in- 

[236] 


structor,  how  best  not  only  to  maintain  decorum 
throughout  the  numbers  who  throng  the  lecture 
rooms,  but  also  to  keep  ever  at  high  pressure,  among 
all,  individual  ambition  and  zeal,  so  that  out  of  sight 
effort  and  purpose  shall  be  steadfast. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  one  most  efficacious  incentive 
must  be  recognition  of  genuine,  affectionate  kind 
ness  to  rule  the  master's  spirit.  And  when  this  is 
combined,  as  in  Bryant's  case,  with  unflagging  labor 
to  promote  understanding  and  progress,  he  must  in 
deed  be  afflicted  with  a  despicable  nature  who  re 
fuses  response  to  such  leadership.  And  it  is  a  truth 
beyond  question  that  no  man  has  won  a  greater  and 
more  abiding  measure  of  love  and  respect  than  he, 
from  all  beneath  his  care,  whatever  renown  other 
masters  have  won,  how  rich  soever  the  laurels  bound 
in  honor  on  any  brow,  it  is  a  sure  and  noble  testi 
mony  that  no  personality  was  ever  deeper  planted  in 
love,  no  memory  will  be  more  sweetly  treasured,  by 
the  students  for  whom  he  wrought,  than  of  Edwin 
E.  Bryant. 

I  have  sought  to  reach  in  some  degree  by  statis 
tics,  a  showing  of  the  usefulness  to  society  of  the 
College  of  Law,  both  before  and  during  Bryant's  ad 
ministration,  but  find  reports  too  incomplete  to  af 
ford  all  the  satisfaction  desirable.  Some  approxi 
mations  may  indicate  somewhat  of  its  value  to  them 
who  have  pursued  its  course  to  graduation — and 
thus  to  the  communities  they  serve — and  so  far  as 
given  the  figures  are  much  within  the  full  measure 
of  the  facts.  Yet  some  surprises  in  them  excite  the 
hope  that  greater  fulness  of  information  will  be 

[  237  ] 


sought  and  attained  hereafter,  by  which  its  credit 
will  be  much  augmented. 

Mr.  Secretary  Riley  informs  me  the  number  of 
individual  students  enrolled  in  Bryant's  time  is 
1611.  Yet  the  annual  average  attendance  was  198,— 
the  course  requiring  three  years.  Of  these,  but  861 
received  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  laws.  Of  the  750 
who  remained  not  to  the  end,  probably  a  consider 
able  number,  impatient  of  delay,  were  admitted 
through  the  state  law  examination  here,  and  many 
more  by  the  courts  of  other  states. 

Taking  the  35  years  of  the  College  of  Law  to 
gether  the  total  recipients  of  degrees  have  been  1538; 
of  whom  death  has  seized  99.  Eeviewing  the  reports, 
the  most  impressive  fact,  to  me,  is  the  comparatively 
small  number  of  these  who  have  withdrawn  from 
professional  pursuits;  216,  little  over  14  per  centum; 
the  more  remarkable  because  doubtless  some  sought 
legal  instruction  but  in  aid  of  other  callings.  I 
doubt  much  if  any  considerable  school  of  law  can 
surpass,  indeed,  can  match  this  record. 

Of  these  216,  it  is  curious  to  note  that  six  enlisted 
with  the  clergy,  twenty-three  in  journalism,  seven  in 
the  army,  perhaps  as  more  pugnacious  avocations; 
six  chose  medicine  as  equally  disputatious;  thir 
teen  sought  the  peace  of  husbandry;  thirteen 
adopted  educational  service,  while  146  were  led  off 
by  the  profitableness  of  banking,  manufacturing,  in 
surance  or  other  aspects  of  business;  one  now  and 
for  many  years  the  excellent  reading  clerk  of  the 
United  States  Senate;  and,  most  felicitously  of  all 
for  us,  one  gently  rules  our  good  state,  as  the  charm- 

[238] 


ing  wife  of  our  distinguished,  this  submissive,  Gov 
ernor. 

Consulting,  next,  the  careers  of  those  whom  the 
law  retained,  reason  for  warm  congratulation 
springs  from  their  attainments.  Briefly  stated — for 
time  commands  it — they  stand  among  the  foremost 
in  the  honors  of  life.  You  will  instantly  recall, 
without  invidious  mention,  many  in  the  highest  esti 
mation  at  the  bar  in  other  states,  as  here,  the  trusted 
counsel  of  vast  interests  in  railways  and  other  forms 
of  business  wealth;  and  the  official  list  comprises  two 
senators  of  the  United  States,  five  representatives 
in  Congress,  two  governors,  two  lieutenant  govern 
ors  of  states;  122  upon  the  judicial  bench,  six  of  su 
preme,  twenty-two  of  circuit  or  district,  fifty- seven 
of  county,  thirty-seven  of  municipal,  courts;  two  as 
sistant  attorneys  general  of  the  United  States,  eleven 
federal  attorneys,  six  attorneys  general  of  states,  175 
county  or  state's  attorneys,  100  city  attorneys; 
twenty-three  senators  of  states,  fifty  in  legislative 
lower  houses;  and  130  or  more  in  other  office,  federal 
or  state,  at  home  and  abroad.  Complete  information 
of  our  bachelors  would  add  sensibly  to  these  figures, 
no  doubt;  and  were  account  made  also  of  those  who 
broke  their  shell  to  enter  the  profession  without  de 
gree,  the  impatient  course  of  many,  the  reckoning 
would  be  still  further  augmented. 

Let  him  who  will  cavil  at  collegiate  training!  And 
always  honor,  pre-eminently  as  he  deserves,  who 
puts  his  life  to  high  attainment  and  usefulness  with 
out  it!  But  in  results  like  these  lies  the  demonstra 
tion  which  leaves  the  good  father,  of  possible  means, 

[239] 


helpless  to  deny  his  offspring,  without  sin  and  shame, 
the  opportunity  of  education;  which  establish  among 
the  worthiest  of  human  laborers,  the  instructors  of 
youth;  which  ennoble  and  dignify  the  aims  and  devo 
tion  of  Bryant's  faithful  work. 

I  can  justify  here  but  mere  mention  of  the  Gener 
al's  performances  in  authorship.  With  a  single  ex 
ception,  his  books  were  professional.  He  contrib 
uted  much  to  the  edition  of  the  first  twenty  volumes 
of  reports  of  decisions  by  the  supreme  court  of  the 
state,  republished  with  corrections  and  annotations 
under  authority  of  that  tribunal;  of  which  two  vol 
umes  were  prepared  by  Chief  Justice  Dixon,  and 
eighteen  by  Vilas  &  Bryant. 

It  was  devotion  to  "his  boys"  that,  years  after 
ward,  again  addressed  him  to  the  toil  of  book- 
making.  He  began  with  small,  unambitious  hand 
books  of  elementary  principles,  designed  only  for 
his  classes.  The  publishers  pressed  upon  him 
for  works  which  would  command  abundant  sales. 
Chiefly  noteworthy  were  his  Wisconsin  Justice,  and 
text  books  on  code  practice;  the  former  very  useful 
though  of  modest  aim,  and  long  to  remain  the  vade 
mecum  of  justices  of  the  peace  and  practitioners  in 
their  humble  but  valuable  courts;  the  other  finding 
more  pretentious  place  in  libraries  generally. 

To  please  his  old  comrades,  he  wrote  at  much  cost 
of  time  and  toil,  one  of  the  excellent  regimental  his 
tories  of  the  Civil  War,  the  History  of  the  Third 
Wisconsin  Veterans;  of  course  without  other  recom 
pense  than  their  grateful  esteem  and  his  joy  in  it. 

The  General's  facility  of  expression  improved  con- 

[240] 


tinually,  with  years,  one  reward  of  Ms  intense  labors. 
His  public  addresses  grew  more  and  more  conspicu 
ous  for  beauty  of  diction  and  sentiment,  until  he  be 
came  appreciated,  I  am  sure,  as  among  our  most 
pleasing  and  effective  speakers,  especially  felicitous 
in  the  brief  and  witty  sort  called  "after-dinner" 
speeches. 

For  many  years  he  was  upon  the  Fish  Commission 
of  Wisconsin,  most  of  the  time  its  chairman.  His 
associates  commend  highly  the  efficiency  of  his  serv 
ice;  wholly  a  labor  of  love,  but  of  much  public  ad 
vantage.  One  could  hardly  ask  better  proof  of  that 
than  the  hearty  recognition  of  transportation  com 
panies,  whose  receipts  from  tourists  and  sportsmen 
have  been  much  enhanced  because  the  work  of  the 
commission  so  greatly  raised  the  attractiveness  of 
our  beautiful  waters.  This  function  led  him  to  mem 
bership  in  the  National  Fisheries  Association,  and 
he  received  from  its  members  the  high  distinction  of 
election  as  president  of  that  body.  His  attendance 
on  the  annual  session  gave  him  an  annual  treat  of 
great  refreshment. 

Such,  was,  indeed,  the  last  recreation  granted  him 
by  Providence.  Returning  from  the  association's 
meeting  by  the  seaside  in  1903,  while  visiting  by  the 
way  his  Vermont  friends,  sickness  there  befell  him 
menacingly.  His  son,  Dr.  Bryant,  was  summoned 
thither,  and  soon  restored  him  to  seeming  convales 
cence  and  spirits,  so  that  his  journey  westward  was 
happily  begun  with  no  thought  or  sign  of  peril. 
Alas!  by  what  a  spider  thread  hangs  an  inestimable 
life!  Rolling  through  Ontario  on  his  home-bound 

"  [  241  ] 


way,  he  passed  in  Ms  stateroom  many  hours  of  a 
wakeful  night  cheerily  singing  in  low^  and  gentle 
voice — he  was  a  sweet  and  delicious  singer — the 
songs  and  hymns  he  loved,  for  self-companionship, 
till  earth  was  flooded  with  the  light  of  morning. 
Then,  rising  from  his  berth  to  welcome  with  light 
heart  the  liberty  of  day,  Lo!  Heaven's  beneficence 
attended  him!  Suddenly,  the  silver  cord  was  loosed; 
a  single  exclamation,  and  he  sank  to  death,  as  he 
might  have  prayed  for  it,  in  the  arms  of  his  beloved 
son,  with  but  at  most  one  pang  of  flesh  to  free  the 
soul.  He  merited  well  this  providence  and  mercy. 
Others  had  already  the  full  exhaustion  for  their  use 
of  his  faculties  of  life ;  righteously  was  he  supported, 
without  a  premonition  of  its  imminence,  to  the  ex 
tremity  of  strength.  Grievous  the  stroke  to  them 
that  loved  him;  yet  tears  cannot  hide  perception  of 
the  blessing  on  his  going  hence. 

The  years  of  the  psalmist  were  well  nigh  his;  his 
career,  completed  to  the  fullness  of  harmony,  in  wise 
consciousness  of  its  finished  term,  himself  had  vol 
untarily  surrendered.  Who  can  say  but  the  years 
love  would  have  added  might  have  been  but  of  un- 
recompensed  distresses  here,  of  deprivation  from 
beatitude  there.  Leave  it  to  omniscient  goodness! 
If  excellence,  fidelity,  purity  and  good  works  on 
earth  commend  to  peace  and  welfare  above,  we  need 
no  better  assurance! 

However  deficiently  his  story  be  told,  the  plain 
facts  of  it  sufficiently  speak,  without  more  elabora 
tion,  the  attributes  of  his  character. 

It  wants  no  added  words  to  know  what,  as  husband 

[242] 


and  father,  he  was  at  home,  nor  should  these  pre 
cincts  be  invaded  with  curious  search,  but  to  freshen 
the  sorrows  there. 

In  all  the  intercourse  of  his  years  with  fellow  men, 
outside  it,  if  he  left  one  enmity  to  upbraid  his  mem 
ory,  it  was  in  a  scoundrel's  heart.  For  so  upright 
and  unexacting  was  he  in  all  his  dealings,  that,  what 
soever  he  received  of  possessions,  of  happiness,  of 
good  fame  and  honor,  came  always  short  of  his  true 
deserving.  I  dare  affirm  with  no  shade  of  doubt  that 
never  in  all  his  days  did  he  acquire  an  unjust  penny, 
do  an  unworthy  deed,  receive  award  of  merit  not 
entirely  his  due.  If,  in  any  error  of  judgment,  any 
slip  of  haste,  he  mistakenly  dropped  a  word  of  harm, 
quick  atonement  followed  its  discovery. 

I  have  recounted  as  his  no  shining  achievement 
of  what  men  call  greatness;  no  lustrous  triumph  in 
advocacy  at  the  bar;  no  supremacy  in  the  state; 
no  pre-eminence  in  arms;  no  wondrous  writing. 
Though,  touching  that  last,  I  have  thought,  had  he 
given  to  literature  the  constancy  bestowed  to  make 
his  labors  useful,  his  imagination  might  have  left 
"something  so  writ  as  that  the  world  should  not 
willingly  let  it  die. ' ' 

But  it  may  be  truly  said,  if  all  men  were  as  he, 
the  greatness  of  any  would  be  little  needed.  Among 
such  a  people  peace  and  kindness  would  discard 
necessity  of  warriors,  statesmen,  courts,  officials, 
requisite  now  to  master  passion,  fraud  and  wrong. 
Yet  though  his  ambition  aimed  at  lower  flights,  it 
led  him  where  usefulness  to  fellow  men  attained 
to  the  best  performance  his  gifts  from  nature  en- 

[243] 


abled.    Could  he  render  better  account  for  the  talent 
given  by  the  Master  ? 

A  sweeter  soul  of  human  kindness,  gentleness,  de 
votion  and  good  will,  a  spirit  of  higher  rectitude 
and  purity,  the  angel  of  death  has  rarely  ushered 
to  the  realms  above.  If  amidst  the  greedy  strifes  of 
earth,  it  may  not  be  here  a  treasure  of  enduring 
memory,  let  us  rejoice  in  the  faith  which  assures 
him  an  eternity  of  recognition  in  heaven. 


[244] 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  JUBILEE  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 

1904 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  JUBILEE  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 

ON  BEHALF  OF  THE  REGENTS.    JUNE  7,  1904 

Until  modern  times,  the  scope  of  learning,  outside 
the  exact  branches,  was  very  limited.  Among  the 
ancients,  little  else  than  speculative  philosophy, 
municipal  law,  Greek  and  Latin  literature;  in  the 
middle  ages,  down  even  to  a  comparatively  recent 
period,  the  addition  was  mainly  of  theological  his 
tory  and  disputation.  Throughout  all,  weak  empir 
icism  and  stout  superstition  ruled  where  science  now 
prevails.  And  all  learning,  beyond  personal  expe 
rience,  was  the  privilege  of  few,  even  very  few. 
Though  evolution  slowly  made  way,  it  may  perhaps 
be  safely  said  that  learning  remained  in  shackles 
until,  after  long  and  troubled  dawning  hours,  the 
morning  of  liberty  broke  in  the  west.  The  illumina 
tion  waked  the  fathers  of  American  civilization  to 
noble  ideas,  which,  if  dimly  seen  by  some,  had  never 
before  a  practical  force.  Not  even  their  great  deeds 
demand  higher  tribute. 

First,  that  among  the  inherent,  equal  rights  of  all 
men  is  the  right  of  knowledge,  enjoyable  by  every 
one  according  to  his  powers.  Next,  that  to  the  se 
curity  and  excellence  of  the  republic,  education  of 
men  is  an  absolute  condition;  hence,  finally,  an  over 
ruling  obligation  of  the  state  to  its  citizens. 

[249] 


Not  all  the  fruitage  of  the  grand  idea  can  be  fore 
seen  by  those  who  plant  it.  Their  husbandry  nature 
oft  forwards  to  perfection  beyond  human  forecast. 
So  has  it  been  with  this  conception  of  the  fathers. 
Their  decree  of  equal  rights  to  men  threw  open  also 
a  liberty  to  knowledge  whose  effects  in  a  single  cen 
tury  might  confound  them  with  amazement  could 
they  return  to  their  view.  It  liberated  myriad  minds 
to  pursuit  of  truth,  unfettered  by  thought-habits  of 
past  ages,  who  improved  the  Baconian  gift  of  method 
to  results  otherwise  to  have  been  far  slower — none 
can  say  how  greatly  slower — of  attainment.  The 
century  after  the  American  constitution  has  shown  a 
progress  surpassing  all  before  since  the  birth  of  the 
Christian  Savior. 

Upon  the  foundation  of  these  ideas  has  risen,  un 
der  the  auspices  of  the  good  state  we  love, — and 
which,  we  proudly  believe,  intelligently  understands 
them, — this  institution  of  learning  to  co-ordinate, 
vivify,  and  complete  her  system  of  free  education. 
And  on  the  part  of  its  governing  regency,  I  ven 
ture  to  emphasize,  with  the  summary  brevity  de 
manded  by  the  occasion,  two  aspects  of  its  benevo 
lent  service  which,  however  familiar,  are  of  the 
highest  import  to  its  usefulness. 

The  first  springs  from  the  revolution  accomplished 
in  the  elements  and  purposes  of  learning.  The 
boundaries  of  the  long- guiding  aphorism,  rvw&  o-eavrw, 
—man's  history,  philosophy,  philology,  literature, 
law,  or  whatever  else  of  him  and  his  perform- 
mances, — measure  now  but  paddocks  in  the  expand 
ing  fields  of  knowledge.  Sweeping  indefinitely  be- 

[250] 


yond,  is  thie  science  of  nature,  her  composition, 
forces,  history,  laws,  adaptations.  From  that  im 
mensity,  the  gains  already  have  issued  in  marvelous 
forms  of  power  and  welfare  to  mankind;  enough 
further  is  discerned  to  assure  the  forecast  of  greater 
wonders  yet  to  come;  until,  indeed,  the  imagination, 
lifted  to  heights  of  dazzling  view,  may  well  utter 
the  poet's  cry: 

Visions  of  glory,  spare  my  aching  sight, 
Ye  unborn  ages,  crowd  not  on  my  soul ! 

And  better  than  material  splendor,  progress  there 
has  proven  the  cleansing  besom  for  the  hoary  errors 
of  ages;  old  obstructions  to  human  view  have  turned 
to  gossamers  in  this  new  sunlight;  the  ghosts  of 
superstition  dissolved;  and  the  far  stretching  vistas 
of  science  may  yet  reveal — though  now  too  dim  for 
sight — a  radiance  on  life's  mystic  problem;  and 
from  his  compass  of  outward  things  a  higher  knowl 
edge  of  himself  return  to  man,  until,  at  last,  realiza 
tion,  impossible  to  introspection,  of  the  !Vw0i  o-eavrdi/, 
may  reach  him  sitting  at  the  feet  of  nature.  We 
have  at  least  achieved  so  much  that  human  research 
is  justified  of  presumption,  though  it  boldly  grope 
and  strive  to  grasp  the  treasures  of  the  Infinite. 

And  to  such  a  university,  of  the  universe  to  be  a 
storehouse,  the  vivifying  heart  and  supply  to  the 
arteries  of  the  state's  educational  system,  the  first 
and  great  commandment  is,  to  strive  in  the  vanguard 
of  human  research,  worthily  to  aid  and  quickly  to 
gather  every  new  conquest  of  the  spoil  of  knowl 
edge.  A  great  people  must  have  all  the  best,  with 
least  delay. 

[251] 


For  here  we  reach  the  widened  purposes  of  learn 
ing.  Man  is  so  involved  with  nature  for  all  he  is 
and  all  he  does,  that  no  art,  trade,  profession,  per 
haps  no  branch  of  human  labor,  but  is,  or  shall  be, 
somehow  informed  to  its  best  performance  by  the 
teaching  of  science.  And  any  people  who  will  tread 
the  measures  of  civilization,  command  the  world's 
abundance  in  pursuit  of  happiness,  share  God's 
promised  "dominion  over  all  the  earth,"  can  only 
win,  or  after  winning  hold,  that  happy  place,  by 
grasping  all  the  power  of  completest  knowledge  of 
its  possessions  and  laws.  Thus  necessity  combines 
with  wisdom  to  charge  the  state,  obedient  to  the 
overruling  law  of  the  equal  rights  of  all,  to  provide 
and  proffer  the  utmost  best  as  the  rightful  portion 
of  every  citizen  youth  capable  to  embrace  and  utilize 
the  gift.  And  when  we  know  that  in  1900  this  state 
contained  over  116,000  youths,  eighteen  to  twenty 
years  of  age,  we  can  but  see,  in  the  small  proportion 
led  to  these  fountains,  greater  duty  to  the  future 
than  satisfaction  with  even  the  marked  achievement 
of  the  past.  We  are  yet  far,  far  below  the  plane  of 
the  democracy  of  learning. 

Let  me  add — to  parry  misconceptions — that  to 
seek  more  implies  no  yielding  of  treasures  gained; 
that  so  far  from  suggesting  diminished  pursuit  of 
"the  humanities,"  I  regard  ardent  efficiency  in 
those  liberal  studies  so  essential  to  the  university 
as  to  constitute  the  truest  gauge  of  its  scholastic 
character,  and  any  slackening  there  to  mark  a  retro 
grade  neither  to  be  tolerated  nor  to  be  excused  by 
advances  otherwise.  The  language  we  speak  can 

[252] 


rarely  fall  in  eloquence  or  purity  from  tongue  or 
pen  uninspired  by  this  discipline;  nor  has  any  other 
training  won  richer  triumphs  for  the  intellect.  In 
vestigation  and  research  must  ever  be  insistent  in 
these  fields,  still  fruitful  of  buried  treasures;  and 
moreover,  doubly  necessary  to  co-ordinate  the  true 
acquisitions  of  the  past  with  the  gains  of  science. 

Turning  next  to  the  university's  mission  to  impart 
and  infuse  the  elixir  of  wisdom,  we  pause  now  only 
on  the  grand  objective — the  creation  of  citizens  of 
intelligence  and  virtue,  apt  to  enjoy  and  advance 
the  privileges  and  aspirations  of  a  noble  humanity. 
This  is  the  aim,  the  justification,  the  mandate  of  the 
state  in  all  its  undertakings  for  education;  culmi 
nating  here  in  chief est  obligation.  None  is  fit  to  be 
among  its  instructors  who  reckons  not  with  this 
duty  in  every  hour;  none  tolerable  among  its  disci 
ples  whose  secret  heart  swells  not  with  yearning  for 
that  crown  of  excellence. 

To  seek  the  power  of  knowledge  for  the  gains  of 
mere  selfishness  is  criminal  debasement;  to  accept 
its  investiture  for  increase  of  usefulness  among 
men,  exalts  and  ennobles  the  soul.  The  first  issues 
in  sin;  the  last  in  wisdom.  All  the  glory  of  this 
university  would  turn  to  corruption  were  its  lesson 
and  example  not  addresed  to  the  making  first  of 
character,  even  above  intelligence.  Learning,  intel 
lect,  character;  the  best  of  these  is  character.  With 
out  it,  the  others  may  be  but  spirits  of  evil;  with  it, 
angels  of  light  and  leading. 

For  such  purposes,  to  such  ideals,  you,  sir,  have 
been  called  to  head  and  guide  this  generous  founda- 

[253] 


tion  of  the  state  for  her  good  people.  You  succeed 
to  a  noble  line  in  its  presidency.  I  shall  be  pardoned 
if  I  name  the  only  one  known  to  my  student  life  from 
the  first  day  of  opening  in  the — then  solitary — old 
North  Hall.  To  that  great,  good  man,  first  chan 
cellor,  John  H.  Lathrop,  who,  with  true  vision  of 
its  high  aims  and  ultimate  triumph,  wrought  its 
establishment,  unfaltering  amid  storm  and  trial,  my 
heart  fondly  turns  with  reverent  respect  and  affec 
tion.  Would  he,  too,  might  return  to  view  this 
monument  to  his  wisdom  and  labors  now!  Ever 
green  be  his  memory  preserved  in  honor  here; 
worthy  first  among  the  glorious  men  who  have 
builded  to  its  height  and  fame  the  University  of 
Wisconsin! 

Your  task,  as  your  succession,  sir,  is  great  and 
splendid.  All  the  energies  of  life  will  be  none  too 
much  for  it.  To  its  worthy,  its  high  performance, 
the  regents,  who  have  given  you  their  trust,  now 
bring  you  hope  and  cheer.  On  with  it !  And  in  the 
gracious  favor  of  Providence,  may  this  good  insti 
tution  of  learning  be  forever  a  beacon  of  light  and 
a  blessing  to  mankind. 


MADISON  , 


Illi! 


Ill 


ill! 


Illfiil 


